The lottery of the penalty shootout is something most football teams love to avoid, and the desire is especially intensified when the said team has dominated the particular match in question.
Ghana’s Black Maidens painfully exited the just ended FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in the quarterfinals at the hands of eventual finalists Mexico on penalties.
The Maidens, who took the lead twice in the game, but were unable to close out the match, after a poor mistake from the goalkeeper handed Mexico a late equalizer.
Black Maidens captain and the eventual golden boot winner, Mukarama Abdulai, has opened up about how she was overwhelmed with emotions and burst into tears even before the decisive penalty shootout.
“I started crying before the penalties. I really don’t know why,” she said.
”The tears were just flowing and I was very nervous.”
She further spoke about how her confidence was lifted after she converted her penalty kick.
”I took the first kick, and when I scored I really felt we could win.”
”But when we missed our next kick I started crying again. It still hurts because we couldn’t achieve our target.”
Abdulai claimed both the golden boot and the bronze ball (third best player) at the competition which saw Spain lift the ultimate prize.
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By: Daniel Koranteng/citinewsroom.com/Ghana