Ghana’s Black Maidens secured their spot at the ongoing WAFU B U17 Girls’ Cup tournament with a slender 3-2 win over Benin at the Ghanaman Soccer Center of Excellence, Prampram, on Saturday.
The game had a familiar feel and edge around it after both sides met in the tournament’s opening game on Thursday, with Ghana running out comfortable 4-1 victors on the day.
However, Saturday’s game was a completely different affair.
Benin had learned from their past mistakes, starting the game on front foot this time and taking an early lead courtesy Yenido Gandonou.
Benin’s goal merited the right response from the Black Maidens, who looked threatening after going behind.
Ghana’s constant probing was rewarded when Getrude Amoafo pulled parity for the hosts with a smart finish after 37 minutes.
Priscilla Mensah was on hand to complete the first half turnaround as a goal on the stroke of halftime gave the Black Maidens the advantage at the interval.
Benin put up a strong performance in the second half as they looked to peck the Black Maidens back.
Their incursions yielded results as Gandonou was right on cue to finish for Benin, setting up a tense finale in the process.
Gandonou’s strike 10 minutes from time, however, was not the last act as Getrude Amoafo matched her Beninoise counterpart with a sublime finish to bag her brace.
There were no goals as Ghana held off Benin’s late attempts to salvage a point from the game.
Ghana advance to the semi-finals of the maiden edition of the WAFU B U17 Girls’ Cup, awaiting Group B opponents, Nigeria, Niger or Ivory Coast.
