Black Starlets draw 0-0 with Morocco in friendly

Ghana’s U17 side, the Black Starlets, on Thursday drew blank with their Moroccan counterparts at the Mohammed VI Sports Complex in the second leg of the friendly encounter.

An unlucky Black Starlets side squandered some decent goal-scoring opportunities in the first half forcing the Moroccans to bundle up in the second half.

With a cautious approach to the game, the Black Starlets held the Moroccans who pressured for the opener in the early minutes of the game.

Having scored two goals under 16 minutes in the first leg of the encounter, the Moroccans started the game with the same approach but Ghana’s center back pair of Sayibu Yakubu and Muhaison Mahmoud were resolute at the back, stopping the barrage of attacks from the home side.

Before the 20th minute mark, Morocco’s diminutive winger Hamza outwitted his marker and could have fired home the opener but for the goalkeeping prowess of Sylvester Antwi.

Ghana then took control of the game with Shaibu Abdallah coming close with an intelligent drive which galloped over the bar after smartly meandering through two Moroccan midfielders.

Around the half-hour mark, Jonas Naafo unleashed another thunderous strike which also climbed over the bar to give the Moroccans some breathing space.

Ghana kept pushing for the opener but the Moroccans defended well with Ayoub Hamami and Ayman El Wali playing so well to the delight of all.

Before the break, Morocco teared off on a counter-attack after Ghana’s attack broke down with Yassine Khalifi and Jazouli combining beautifully but Abdellah Rahimi’s strike was nothing to trouble Ghana goalie Sylvester Antwi.

Both sides came after the break looking more cautious with Morocco effecting the first substitution.

Ghana kept pushing for the opener with Shaibu Abdallah coming close to scoring but his shot, though on target went a few inches off the bar.

Both sides kept throwing punches at each other but it was Ghana who had the best of opportunities in the second half as John Batigi swerved his marker to fire home the opener and was brought down in the box but referee waved play-on.

The Moroccans effected 5 substitutions with Ghana effecting 4.

The game ended goalless with Ghana unable to avenge the first leg defeat suffered on Monday.

The exercise is part of an exchange program between the Ghana FA and the Royal Moroccan FF which creates the platform for each other to undertake training programs in any of the countries.