Coleman gets third shot at World Cup

Ellen Coleman will be making her third successive FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup appearance for Ghana after she was named in the final squad.

The teenage defender made the list of 21 Black Maidens players submitted by head coach Dramani Mas-ud Didi for the start of the 2012 finals in Azerbaijan on Saturday.


Coleman, then a 13 year-old was an unused substitute for Ghana in the first FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup hosted by New Zealand in 2008.


Two years on, she made the Black Maidens team again for the 2010 finals in Trinidad and Tobago where she featured in all three group matches for Ghana.


As Ghana prepares to make her third straight appearance at the World Cup, Coleman, who turns 17 later in December is joined up in the Black Maidens team by five of her colleagues from the 2010 team.


Sherifatu Sumaila, Priscilla Okyere, Ivy Kolli, Rasheda Abdul-Rahman and Sawude Issah will all be making their second World Cup appearance.


The Black Maidens are in Group D alongside Uruguay, China PR and Germany for the tournament which will take place between 22 September and 13 October.

The top two finishers from each group will advance to the quarter-finals.


Black Maidens squad:


Goalkeepers: Sawude Issah, Victoria Agyei, Azume Adams


Defenders: Naomi Anima, Ellen Coleman, Vida Opoku, Amina Fuseini, Ivy Kolli, Regina Antwi.


Midfielders: Rasheda Abdul-Rahman, Gladys Neequaye, Gladys Amfobea, Samira Abdul-Rahman, Priscilla Okyere, Fatima Alhassan.


Strikers: Jane Ayieyam, Lily Nilber-Lawrence, Sherifatu Sumaila, Wasila Diwura-Soale, Alberta Ahialey, Laadu Issaka.