Maidens miss last eight spot

Deborah Afriyie gave Ghana a win at the Women's Under-17 World Cup as the Black Maidens beat Costa Rica 1-0 in the final group game in Wellington.

The Black Maidens would have every right to savour the result, being their first win at the competition, but it came too late in the tournament as Ghana miss out of a place in the last eight.

Germany and Korea DPR qualified from Group B after playing out a 1-1 draw in Hamilton.

Aside the disappointment of failing to reach the quarter-finals, the Black Maidens have other concerns to worry about after captain Mercy Myles was stretchered off with a ligament injury to her knee in the 58thminute.

The result however did not reflect the match statistics as Ghana attempted 23 shots at goal with Mercy Myles, Mantenn Kobblah, Florence Dadson, Candice Osei-Agyemang and Isha Fordjour all forcing Costa Rican keeper Priscilla Tapia into making good saves.

After a rather slow start to the game that Ghana outplayed their opponents, the Black Maidens opened the scoring on19 minutes when Deborah Afriyie poked in a cross from the right by Candice Osei-Agyemang.

Ghana hanged onto their 19th minute lead as the Black Maidens attempted to rack up more goals with an eye on qualification to the next round.

But with Korea DPR and Germany drawing in the other fixture, Ghana, who had played some beautiful football since the start of the competition saw their hopes of advancing dashed at the Women's Under-17 World Cup.

Ghana line up: Patricia Mantey, Edem Atovor, Linda Eshun, Juliet Acheampong, Elizabeth Cudjoe, Florence Dadson, Mercy Myles/ Elizabeth Addo, Mantenn Kobblah, Deborah Afriyie, Candice Osei-Agyemang/ Isha Fordjour, Rosemary Ampem

Unused Subs: Margaret Otoo, Linda Aboagye, Ellen Coleman, Priscilla Okine, Henrietta Annie, Abena Ampomah, Samira Suleman, Priscilla Saahene.