U17 World Cup: Maidens advance to second round with a game to spare

The Black Maidens of Ghana produced another bold performance to record a second victory against Finland on Friday night in Montevideo and became the first team at the 2018 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup to qualify for the second round with even a game to spare.

Mukarama Abdulai once again picked the MVP award following another wonderful display.

Evans Adotey’s team were too strong for the Finnish side at the Estadio Charrúa as goals from strikers Milot Pokuaa, Mukarama Abdulai and midfielder Grace Anima handed Ghana an emphatic 3-1 win.

Pokuaa opened the scoring in the 6th minute with a cool finish before assisting skipper Mukarama to make it 2-0 seven minutes later with a superb header.

It was the fourth goal of the captain of Ghana in the tournament after a terrific hat-trick against Uruguay on Day 1 making her the tournament’s outright top goalscorer.

Finland pulled one back in the 75th minute through substitute player Jenni Kantanen following a howler by Ghana’s goalkeeper Grace Boadu but the young Ghanaian girls were not done yet as Anima put the game completely beyond the European side with a third goal four minutes from time.

Meanwhile Ghana and New Zealand – both on 6 points and qualified – meet on November 20 in the last game of the group to determine the group winner.