Starlets set to join the rest of Africa and the World

Accra, Jan. 19, GNA - After years of absence at the Africa and the world level, Ghana's Under-17 team, the Black Starlets are set to stage a comeback into the next edition of the Africa Youth tournament to be staged in Gambia as well as join the rest of the world at the FIFA Uuder-17 tournament.

The Starlets, who were a dominant force in the 90's, went into oblivion after falling out of the 1999 and 2001 editions following their failure to qualify to the tournaments.

It is on this background that the present crop of Starlets' players are going into Sunday's second leg game against their Ethiopian counterparts at the Kumasi Sports Stadium with a total commitment to be victorious.

The new team is therefore determined to make amends by qualifying to the tournament in Gambia and book a subsequent ticket to the world edition.

An assessment of their previous performance gives hope of the chances of the team to achieve their aim after their demolition of the Tunisian side in the first round as well as their vintage output in Ethiopia recently.

There is therefore no doubt that the team is capable of going past their counterparts from Ethiopia after they lost the first leg by a slim margin, 1-2.

Having in their midst the best crop of juvenile players on the local scene led by Emmanuel Ansong, who will be combining forces with the likes of Opoku Agyeman and Awudu Abubakari, one can confidently say that the "twinkle, twinkle little stars" are on their way to reclaiming their glory.

This achievement, however, will have to be complemented by the sound technical guidance of coach David Duncan who has ensured the progress of the team up to this stage by imbibing in the team sound technical knowledge as well as other forms of motivation outside the pitch. These are the factors that would be at display on Sunday, when they go into battle on Sunday.

A look at the other side of the coin indicates that, the team is in very good position to qualify, but one thing that must be guided against it is complacency as stated by the Alhaji Rashid Bawa, Minister of State in charge of Sports during his recent visit to the camp of the team at Winneba.

The Starlets are having one vital away goal to their advantage, but this not guarantee them the ticket to the tournament as they need to put in extra efforts to have their dreams materialised.