The head coach of the Black Starlets, Frederick Osam-Duodu, has assured Ghanaians that his team will be ready for the Under-17 World Cup in the Korea Republic in August despite failing to make it to the final of the eight-nation Pre-World Cup tournament which ended in Korea last Saturday.

The?veteran trainer, who attributed his team’s failure to advance from the group stage to fatigue on the part of his boys due to poor organisation, maintained that the Starlets still displayed a huge potential in all three games played.

In a chat with the Graphic Sports, Coach Osam-Duodu said after playing so well to thrash Haiti 3-0 in their opening Group A match and drawing 1-1 with Brazil with a 10-man team, fatigue took a toll on his depleted team after travelling for hours without any rest to play against the host nation, Korea, in a decisive match which they lost 0-3 last Wednesday.

“Apart from that we had to feature only 16 players (13 upfield players and three goalkeepers) against Korea because three regular players, Sadick Adams, skipper Paul Addo and Sumaila Mohammed were not eligible due to suspension,” he revealed.

While Sumaila was red-carded in the 10th minute of the Starlets’ game against Brazil compelling the Ghanaians to play for 80 minutes with 10 men in that match, Sadick and Addo had had accumulated yellow cards in the first two matches.

“I told the boys to keep fighting because no Brazilian side had beaten me before and they did exactly that. The way they matched the well-drilled Brazilian side gave me the confidence that they would do well given the needed support”.

According to Osam-Duodu, though each team was supposed to present 20 players for the tournament, he had only 19 players at his disposal in Korea following the inability of his trusted central defender, Mohammed Nortey Tetteh, to make the trip due to what officials describe as a last- minute hitch on his travelling documents.

He stressed that with adequate preparation and the necessary motivation in the weeks leading to the Starlets’ opening Group F match against Trinidad and Tobago on August 20, the boys could live up to the challenge.

He said unlike the usual major tournaments schedules where teams had some period of rest, the eight-nation tournament was planned in such a way that it did not give participating teams the luxury to either train or rest in between matches.

Coach Osam-Duodu insisted that now that he was satisfied with the performance of his players in camp, it would take extraordinary players to break into the team as the Starlets regroup at Winneba this weekend to continue with preparations towards the 24-nation World Cup in Korea.

All things being equal, the team will embark on a two-week training and acclimatisation tour of Japan before the World Cup.

Meanwhile, Coach Osam-Duodu is expected to present his report on the eight-nation tournament to the Starlets Management Committee tomorrow.