Sports After Dark

Germany booked their place in the knockout phase of the Fifa U17 Women’s World Cup with a 3-2 win over Ghana in Christchurch.

The Germans took control of the game right from the outset, threatening the Africans’ goal a number of times before Tabea Kemme was brought down just inside the box after just four minutes. Dzenifer Marozsan stepped up and slotted the ball home from the penalty spot to give Germany the best possible start.

Ghana responded well to the early goal, applying a great deal of pressure to the Germans immediately after conceding, but some poor touches and resolute defending meant they were unable to turn the pressure into any chances.

Both teams had their goalies go down during the game after big collisions with attackers, both were able to continue and Germany’s Anna Sarholz showed little fear after her collision, diving at an attacker’s feet just  minutes after receiving treatment.

Ten minutes before half time Germany had their second as Marozsan curled a corner from the left side into the back of the net with pinpoint accuracy, leaving the Ghanan defenders stunned.

Germany came out blazing in the second half, generating a number of chances only to be denied by the woodwork and some outstanding goal keeping from Patricia Mantey.

Ghana finally got themselves into the game when Sarholz spilled an easy ball in and Florence Dadson pounced on the loose ball and put it home.

Unfortunately for the Africans, they proved the old football adage of being most vulnerable after scoring was accurate as just five minutes later Leonie Maier darted past three uninterested looking defenders and came up with a top drawer finish for Germany’s third of the afternoon.

Ghana, perhaps realising that the Germans were tiring, picked up the pace of their attack and sent more players forward in the later stages of the game. This tactic paid off for them as lanky forward Isha Fordjour was able to out jump Sarholz to give Ghana their second of the game to rapturous applause from the neutral crowd.

The final moments of the game were tense as Ghana continued to press forward in hopes of forcing an unlikely draw but were only able to create one more chance which saw Fordjour’s drive blocked by a German defender.

Ghana gave a wonderful account of themselves, playing attractive and positive football, but were unable to match the class and talent of Germany’s stars Marozsan and Isabelle Linden, whose runs down the right side constantly asked questions of the defenders.

Ghana now need a win over Costa Rica to advance to the second stage, while Germany face North Korea in a game which will determine if the Koreans advance.

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The Germany advance with good win over gutsy Ghana by Hamish McBrearty, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.