U17 FIFA Women’s World Cup: Black Maidens miss out for the first time after losing to Morocco on penalties
Ghana will not take part in the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup following their defeat to Morocco on penalty shootouts in the last qualifying round of Africa’s route to the global showpiece.
The Black Maidens were hoping to wrap things up in Rabat after picking up a 2-0 win in the first leg encounter of the tie at the Accra Sports Stadium two weeks ago.
But it all started to go wrong on their arrival in Morocco, where four key members of the team were ruled out of the game after Moroccan officials said they had tested positive for COVID-19.
First choice goalkeeper Deborah Brown and defenders Rose Boakyewaa, Magdalene, and Faiza Abdulai, who constitute the team’s regular defensive line up, were all ruled out of the game.
The Ghanaian delegation have protested against the test results citing weaponization of Covid by the Moroccans to gain advantage but Match Commissioner insisted the game should go ahead.
Ghanaian officials also claimed their players were taken through unusual gender testing to determine whether the players were indeed female, a routine that is not captured in the regulations governing the qualifiers.
Then at half time, the Ghanaian players were forced to sit outside after claiming their dressing room had been sprayed with chemicals. Head coach Mallam Nuhu was forced to give his half time team talk on the corridor instead of the dressing room.
Morocco scored twice in Rabat to finish the game 2-0 with a 2-2 aggregate score as the game was settled through penalties.
After the shootout, Morocco booked a ticket to the World Cup ahead of the Black Maidens, securing a 4-2 win and also becoming the first Arab and North African side to ever participate in a women’s world Cup at the U-17 level.
The result also means Ghana have failed to qualify for the U-17 World Cup for the first time in the country’s history, having participated in the previous editions since its inception in 2008.
