Costa Rica 2022™: Ethiopia keen to upstage favourites Ghana

Sunday’s first leg of the final round in the race to FIFA U20 Women's World Cup, Costa Rica 2022™ between Ethiopia and Ghana will see two of the most deserving sides face off in Addis Ababa.

Not the first time for the Ethiopians to reach the final round of the African qualifiers neither their first meeting with Ghana.

Back in 2015, the two nations met in the race for a place at the eighth edition in Papua New Guinea 2016, the West Africans forced a 2-2 first leg draw in Addis Ababa before earning a 2-0 second-leg win in Kumasi to grab the ticket with a 4-2 aggregate triumph.

This time, it is perhaps fitting that the CECAFA outfit, overly dominant in the East African region, play Ben Forkuo's side that had been at the last five World Cup finals, proving their own superiority and going a notch higher, clinching a maiden ticket.

The East Africans reached the final phase of four teams from a 40-nation knockout qualifying tournament, following triumphs over Rwanda, Botswana and Tanzania respectively.

They got off to a flying start in the campaign, with an 8-0 second round aggregate win over CECAFA rivals Rwanda before thrashing Botswana 8-2 on aggregate in the third round.

They followed up with a shock defeat, losing the first leg 1-0 loss in Tanzania but a 2-0 second leg triumph at home was enough to ensure their passage to the final phase.

With 18 goals in six matches so far, Ethiopia are not lacking scoring talents in their bid for a maiden ticket to the U20 Women's World Cup and will aim to hurt favourites Ghanaians.

Unfortunately, the newly re-appointed coach Firew Hailegebral will miss star player Rediet Assresahagn, who is the current leading African top scorer with seven goals through a shocking injury.

Although Ghana will also be without Evelyn Badu, Perpetual Agyekum and Susan Ama Duah, Hailegebral will be counting on the forms of Ariet Odong, Mesay Temesgen and Turist Lemma in the quest to end the dominant run of the West Africans.

Hailegebral will need to find the right strategy to make his frontline get the goals against very dangerous Black Princesses.

To avoid a back-to-back crash against Ghana, an outright win is important for the CECAFA champions at Addis Ababa Stadium on Sunday before looking to have taliswoman Assresahagn back for the reverse tie in two weeks' time in Cape Coast.

(c) Photos @ EFF and others