Guwahati: Twice champions Ghana will be banking on their better defensive organisation to rattle Mali when they face-off in the quarterfinal of the FIFA U-17 World Cup here, Saturday. The game can be considered as the African derby.
The Ghanaians who have shown intent from the word go topped their group beating India and Colombia, though they lost to USA. However, they eased into the last eight surpassing debutants Niger with two goals from skipper Eric Ayiah who has led the side from the front and is certainly the player to look out for.
Though Ghana coach Samuel Fabin is confident about his team’s chances against Mali. He will once again want his attacking duo of Ayiah and midfielder Sadiq Ibrahim to fire and would fancy their chances against their rivals. The Ghanaians are also aware of the fact that cutting through the Mali defence will be a different proposition altogether.
Besides a tight defensive unit and the speed of their attackers, Ghana will also be backed up by a handful of vociferous globe-trotting supporters, who had been seen in all the venues so far in the tournament.
On the other hand, Mali will certainly be high on confidence having pumped in five goals in their pre-quarterfinal game against Iraq and will be heavily banking on Lassana N’Diaye who has now five goals in four games and will fancy his chances against Ghana.
With very little separating the two in strategy and technique Mali will be determined to turn the table this time, having lost to Ghana in the finals of the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations.
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