Ghana coach Paa Kwesi Fabin is optimistic his charges will come victorious in their U-17 World Cup last 16 clash with “a very determined” Niger on Wednesday.
The Black Starlets will be facing the Mena Cadets for the fourth time this year – first, they played back-to-back international friendlies in Accra back in April which Ghana won before facing off in a more competitive manner at the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations the following month. That game ended goalless in regulation time but Ghana went on to win the tie on penalties.
Ghana emerged as group A winners with six points while Niger qualified as one of the best third-place countries in the tournament.
“Niger is a very determined side and if you look at their group, it wasn’t going to be that easy for them.
“We are prepared to defeat them and progress to the quarterfinals,” Fabin said.
“We’re ready for the battle, we have psyched the boys because we’re in the elimination round and they have to be determined.
“The boys are ready to go the extra level in order to defeat Niger because we know what they can do since we played them during the Afcon and in Abu Dhabi ahead of the tournament.
“We are working on our goal scoring and I believe we would have a good game just like we did against India last week,” he added.
Ghana has been boosted by the return of defender Abdul Razak Yusif who missed the last group game after suffering a head injury against USA. He trained alone on Monday and looks unlikely to be available for the Niger clash.
The winner of Ghana and Niger will meet either Iraq or Mali on Saturday.
