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| Starlets crash out of party for last eight |
9/23/2005 |
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Ghana may have crashed out of the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Peru but the Black Starlets leave Piura as heroes; still enjoying overwhelming supports from Peruvian football fans.
On a night when they played their most impressive game in the competition, the Starlets were denied two goals by referee Alain Hamer who also forced the Ghanaians to play with a man less for about seventy minutes of the crunch duel.
The Luxemburg official''s decision to give George Appiah the marching orders remains the talking point of the game.
And he attracted a lot of boos and jeers from the Peruvian fans at the Miguel Grau Stadium for his overall performance.
Addressing the media in a mixed zone session after the game, Ghana coach, David Duncan, hailed his Starlets as gallant soldiers.
"We leave here with heads high. I am going home very satisfied even though this is not the target we set for ourselves", said Duncan.
"The good people of Peru will be the best judge of who deserved to qualify to the next stage. Certainly not the Chinese who didn''t want to play football", he added.
China needed only a point from that match to seal qualification to the quarterfinals of the tournament and Xuanhong Wang''s 60th minute equaliser ensured that they accomplished that feat.
But they were the butt of scathing criticisms for their time wasting tactics. Starlets coach David Duncan was unequivocal in his condemnation of the Chinese.
"The Chinese did not come to play football. It''s a shame. Spectators paid money to watch football, not to watch the Chinese feign injury and roll on the turf", Duncan intimated.
"FIFA should take a critical look at some of these actions which mar the game because this tournament is supposed to develop talents for the future of the game", said the Ghanaian coach.
China coach Ning Zhang had few words for the media.
While he would not agree to assertions that referee Hamer was woeful on the night, coach Ning Zhang, had to admit that playing against a numerically weakened Starlets team made a lot of difference in the game.
Zhang said "Ghana gave everything. If they hadn''t attracted the red card they could have given us a lot of problems."
China play Turkey at the quarterfinals of the tournament, having finished second with five points.
Group A leaders, Costa Rica, who defeated host Peru 2-0 in the other group A tie, face Group B runner up Mexico next.
The Black Starlets finished the group stage of the competition on three points from three successive drawn outings.
Report by: Eva Okyere (Joy Sports correspondent in Peru)
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