FIFA U-17 World Cup: Ghana praise ‘Right to Dream’ star Sadiq Ibrahim after win

The Indian football fans were treated to an absolute masterclass as Ghana defeated Colombia 1-0 in the first match of the FIFA U-17 World Cup in New Delhi on Friday.

The Black Stars thrilled everyone with their brilliant counter-attack and coach Paa Kwesi Fabin was all praise for their midfielder Sadiq Ibrahim who scored in the 39th minute to hand Ghana the well-deserved victory.

“Sadiq (Ibrahim) is one of the quickest players in the team and his pace was crucial to our attacking performance today. We missed him during the 2017 U-17 African Cup of Nations but he is back in the squad and we were all quite impressed by his performance,” Fabin said at the post-match conference.

Ibrahim is a product of the ‘Right to Dream’ Academy and at the time of the tournament, he was playing practice matches for his side in Denmark. His midfield partner - Aminu Mohammed - was also quite impressive on Friday and the new Manchester City recruit also found him in the good books of the coach.

“There was no stopping Aminu (Mohammed) in the last 20 minutes. He was a live wire in the midfield and although we had to substitute him before the end of the match, he proved it once again why he is so highly rated by the European scouts,” Ghana’s coach told the media.

“We should also remember that it was not all out attacking. Our goalkeeper and the defenders were equally impressive and without them, we would have found it hard to win this game,” he added.

The match was a battle between Colombia’s possession and Ghana’s speed but it was swift counter-attacks of the Black Stars that clinched the game for them. Columbia coach Orlando Restrepo admitted that they were outplayed and said that the missed chances led to their defeat.

“Both the teams had a lot of chances but they (Ghana) were able to convert it. We had a plan and for the most part of the game, it worked. But, football is all about goals and with the amount of chances we missed, it was just not our day,” Restrepo said.

Colombia will face USA in their next Group A encounter on October 9 and Restrepo was confident that his team will be able to move past this result and learn from their mistakes.

“We have a good team and we have to remember that it was a close defeat. We cannot dwell on this for a long time and the mistakes we committed against Ghana will help us in improving our game,” he said.

First Published: Oct 06, 2017 20:57 IST