Captain of Ghana's women's Under-17 side Beatrice Sesu is backing the Black Maidens to compete for the World Cup.

Ghana opens its campaign at the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup Monday against Canada in Group D which also includes Brazil and the Republic of Ireland.

With team coach Abraham Allotey having endorsed the qualities of the Black Maidens, Sesu, who says Lionel Messi is her favourite player believes Ghana can match the other title candidates in the competition.

“Yes, I think we have all those qualities. We really want to do well, we don’t feel any pressure on us and we have the courage we need to perform.”

“We want to go all the way to the final,” she says. “That’s the goal we have in mind: to do our very best and make the final. We’re not nervous or anxious about our opening game here and we just can’t wait to get started.”

Reaching the finals looks a tasking job on the hands of the new generation of players put together by Abraham Allotey but Sesu insists they are not over-confident and are focusing just on their group opponents.

“We have a lot of respect for our opponents but everything will be decided out on the pitch,” says Sesu.