The national U17 side, the Black Starlets will look to maintain their unbeaten run in the group stage when they face hosts Burkina Faso in their final Group A fixture at the 2026 WAFU Zone B U17 Championship in Ouagadougou.
Kassim Ocansey’s side heads into the encounter having secured qualification to the semi-finals, but will be eager to finish the group stage on a positive note against a Burkina Faso side determined to make the most of home advantage.
The Black Starlets began their campaign with a 1-0 victory over Togo, with David Kwarteng scoring the decisive goal and eased past Benin by 3-1 in their second fixture, confirming their qualification to the semi-final of the competition.
Despite having already booked their place in the last four, Starlets captain Issah Abdul Rafiu has insisted that the team will not take their foot off the pedal against the hosts. He also acknowledged that the players must correct the lapses in concentration that affected their performance against Benin.
“Despite the fact that we have already qualified for the semi-final, we aren’t going to relax. We (the players) are focused. Just like our coach said, we lost concentration against Benin but as players we have spoken amongst ourselves and we’ll correct our mistakes,” Issah said.
Burkina Faso, meanwhile, will be looking to use their familiarity with the conditions and the backing of their home supporters to produce a strong performance against Ghana. The hosts will be determined to finish their group-stage campaign positively as they seek to strengthen their position ahead of the knockout rounds.
For the Black Starlets, the fixture presents an opportunity to assess their progress, improve their attacking efficiency and build momentum before the semi-finals having created several scoring opportunities in their earlier matches but will be keen to make better use of their chances against the hosts.
A positive result would provide a further boost to Starlets’ ambitions at the WAFU Zone B U17 Championship, which serves as a qualifying competition for the 2027 U17 Africa Cup of Nations.
