Black Maidens head coach Evans Adotey has expressed his great displeasure at the performance of the referee who handled the team’s quarter final match against Italy in the ongoing Women’s Under 17 World Cup in Costa Rica.
Japanese referee Fusako Kajiyama awarded two penalties in either half to Italy in the match and was taking decisions which did not sit too well with the Ghanaian coach whose side lost 4-3 on penalties after the match ended 2-2 after 120 minutes.
“To be sincere, I am upset, but all the same the referees have the power in their hands. There were too many inconsistent calls against Ghana and they were terrible. I was not happy with how the match went for us”, Adotey said after the match.
Jane Ayieyem put Ghana ahead in the fourth minute, but the Italians struck twice through Gloria Marinelli and Manuela Giugliano. The Maidens equalised in the 90th minute when Ernestina Abambila scored through a free kick, but Maidens were undone in the penalty shootout.
Ghana failed to get into the medal-winning zone of the tournament after clinching bronze two years ago in Azerbaijan but Adotey said despite being sad at not going very far in Costa Rica, the team would look ahead to securing slots in future international competitions.
“I was thinking of going to the next stage but I lost the battle. We will go back and start thinking of how to qualify for the next World Cup.”
Ghana was eliminated with Nigeria who lost by three goals to zero to Spain. The semi-final lineup will see Venezuela facing Japan and Spain taking on Italy.
By: Nathan Quao/citifmonline.com/Ghana