Head Coach of Ghana's female U-17 team, Augustine Evans Adotey says FIFA has delt his team a big blow ahead of the 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup which will be staged from September 30- October 21.
The Black Maidens had a fine run in qualification for the world showpiece but eight of the regular players were left behind after FIFA ruled them out due to age limit verification.
Speaking to the press upon arrival in Jordan on Wednesday, Coach Augustine Evans Adotey revealed how big a blow it is for him to lose eight key players ahead of a major tournament since he had limited time to replace them with new girls.
“Our target is to reach the second round of the competition. The most problem I encountered was FIFA ruling out eight of my girls and I have to inject few players into certain positions and I’m trying to make them compliment the old players. We are not up to the standard required but we will do our best for Ghana.” He said.
Coach Augustine Evans Adotey is expected to lead his side into their first group stage match against defending Champions Japan next Saturday in Al Zarqa.
Ghana will then take on USA and Paraguay in subsequent group matches in Amman and Irbid respectively. The national U-17 female team qualified to their 5th straight World Cup appearance after a 10-0 aggregate win over Morocco in the final qualifying match.
The Black Maidens who were quarterfinalists at the last edition of the competition, are the only African side to have reached the semi-finals of the World Cup after winning bronze in 2012.
By Eli Kondoh @elikondoh