Ghana too good for debutants Niger

Navi Mumbai, October 20
Two-time champions Ghana outplayed Niger 2-0 to enter the quarterfinals of the FIFA U17 World Cup here today. Goals by captain Eric Ayiah off a penalty in the injury time in the first half and substitute Richard Danso in the 90th minute helped Ghana win the rough and tough Round of 16 game. Ghana will now take on African champions Mali in a repeat of their continental qualifying event final in the quarterfinals on October 21 in Guwahati.
Debutants Niger, who lost to Ghana 6-5 on penalties in the African U-17 tournament in May, had to spend much of the time defending their goal against the fleet-footed Ghana trio of Ayiah, Edmund Arko-Mensah and Emmanuel Toko. For Niger, goalkeeper Khaled Lawali stood out as he made several saves, thanks to his agility and anticipation. It was largely because of the excellent goal-keeping and robust defending by the back four that the Ghana forwards failed to break the deadlock until the injury time in the first half.
In the dying moments of the first half, Ayiah threw off his shadow after chasing a through ball into the penalty area, where he was tripped by his marker, resulting in a spot-kick. The Ghana skipper converted the opportunity to go into the breather leading 1-0.
In the second half, barring a brief spell soon after the resumption of play, Niger were again kept busy defending. The entire Ghana team, barring goalkeeper Danad Ibrahim, was all over the Niger half on quite a few occasions in search of another goal. They didn’t let the tempo fall even when they lost their defender Bismark Owusu because of an injury.
For Niger, goalkeeper Lawali continued to thwart several attempts to keep his side in the hunt. Ayiah missed a golden chance to score his second goal of the match and fourth of the competition when Lawali blocked his spot-kick. The penalty was awarded when Toku, the other impressive Ghana player, was brought down by Niger’s Farouk Idrissa.
Ghana, however, were not to be denied their second goal. Just before the end of play, Danso fired a long-range shot that went past the stretched palms of a leaping Lawali into the net.