National Under-17 team booted out of WAFU Championship

The National Under-17 team, the Black Starlets has been booted out of the ongoing West Africa Football Union (WAFU) Zone B Championship in Keague, Togo.

The Starlets lost by 3-1 to Ivory Coast on Tuesday evening.

The 3-1 scoreline means, Ghana has failed to seal qualification to the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) U-17 tourney to be staged in Morocco later this year.

After drawing with Nigeria in the opening match three days ago, Ghana needed a win to advance to the semi-finals, but was unable to match neighbours, Ivory Coast and exited at the group stage.

It was the Ivorians who drew first blood in less than ten minutes through Moses Junior before the first half break.

From the break, Ivory Coast added one goal before Ghana pulled one back. As the Ghanaian team were marching on to pull parity, the opponents were awarded a penalty from the Togolese referee Vicentia Eyonam Amedome to dash Ghana’s dream of qualifying to the last four.

The Ivorians held onto the lead to secure their second win in the competition with six points.

It was all pain and anguish for the players and technical team who think the referee was unfair in his officiating after waving off two penalties in the game.
Ivory Coast and Nigeria have progressed to the last four from Group B.