Ghana’s U-17 female national team, the Black Maidens, are confident ahead of their WAFU Zone B U-17 Girls Cup opener against Burkina Faso on Tuesday.

The Black Maidens, who will represent Ghana at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco next month, are also using the tournament in Côte d’Ivoire as part of their preparations for the global competition.

Head coach Joe Nana Adarkwa says the team is determined to successfully defend the title they won last year after beating Nigeria’s Flamingos in a thrilling final at the Ghanaman Soccer Centre of Excellence in Prampram.

Adarkwa says the primary objective is to use the tournament to assess his players and fine-tune the squad ahead of the World Cup.

“We are here to compete for the World Cup. We are going to use this tournament to assess our players, prepare them and go into the World Cup, and hopefully that will give us a good result.”

Despite the focus on preparation, the coach insists the Black Maidens are in Yamoussoukro to compete and defend their title.

“We are here for business. We are here to compete and compete with the best teams like Nigeria and all the other teams here.”

Adarkwa also stressed the importance of having a well-balanced squad, saying every department has been strengthened to ensure Ghana can compete at the highest level.

“If you want to compete with the best, you have to strengthen your team.”

The Black Maidens will also draw confidence from their status as defending champions, with Adarkwa believing last year’s triumph has lifted the team’s spirit ahead of the tournament.

“Everything is high because we are defending champions. The last one that we played in Ghana, we won it, so the spirit is already high. We are here to defend it.”