Black Maiden Players Eager To Bounce Back

Black Maidens players not overly worried by their defeat in the final group game as they look to bounce back in against Italy in the quarter-final clash.

Ghana lost to Canada 2-1 in their final group game after two impressive wins against Korea DPR and Germany.

However, with the World Cup reaching a crucial stage, the Black Maidens come up against the Azzurrine on Thursday in the last-eight of the U-17 FIFA Women's World Cup, a game players of Ghana know there's no margin for error.

"After the match, when you've been defeated, you will be hurt. But we had qualified so there was not too much hurt in us," said team captain Amina Fuseini.

"We will not underrate our opponents. Every side is capable of qualifying to the next level. We will make sure that we take advantage of our opponents [Italy] and try to keep a clean sheet as well."

"The team spirit is there and I have been telling them to work hard."

Jane Ayieyam, who scored the tournament's first goal which happened to be Ghana's first in their 2-0 win over the Koreans is helping to rally on her colleagues for the game against Italy.

The striker has raised the bar for her teammates as she insists, winning the World Cup is a possibility.

"I have been telling them that they should let us go in and send the gold home,"Ayieyam said.

"Last two years, we had bronze but we are not targeting the bronze again, but we are just targeting the Cup so we send it to Ghana."

Ayieyam, making her second-straight appearance at the World Cup after scoring four goals in the 2012 edition in Azerbaijan believes she can hit the goal trail again.

"Ofcourse, as a striker, you are always targeting that. But you have to see to the needs of the team too. It's always the case for me to be scoring but I need to create for others to score," she said.