{
  "id": 12850695,
  "title": "WAFU B U-17 Championship: Black Starlets’ road trip to Burkina Faso was planned – Joe Abu Salam",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/08/wafu-b-u-17-championship-black-starlets-road-trip-to-burkina-faso-was",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-10-08T11:06:25.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "MyJoyOnline Ghana",
    "slug": "myjoyonline-ghana",
    "url": "https://www.myjoyonline.com/wafu-b-u-17-championship-black-starlets-road-trip-to-burkina-faso-was-planned-joe-abu-salam/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Joe Abu Salam, the Leader of Delegation for Ghana’s U17 national team, the Black Starlets, has clarified that the team’s decision to journey by road from Ghana to Burkina Faso was part of their planned preparations for the WAFU Zone B U17 Championship. This lengthy road trip occurred just days after they returned from playing two friendly matches against Morocco in preparation for the upcoming tournament. Ghana secured a 2-0 win in their first friendly but suffered a 2-1 defeat in the second match after Morocco equalized with a late goal. Reports had raised concerns that the Black Starlets had spent over 20 hours traveling by road to reach Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, for the championship which starts on October 10. However, Joe Abu Salam told JoySports that this journey was indeed part of the team’s original plans. He explained that Ouagadougou was included in their itinerary because the training center in Bolgatanga, Ghana, has a similar climate to that of Ouagadougou. Therefore, the team spent four days training in Bolgatanga before moving to Ouagadougou. The distance between Bolgatanga and Ouagadougou is approximately three hours, which is not a significant journey.",
  "summary": "The Starlets’ lengthy road journey came just days after they returned from Morocco, where they played two friendly matches against the hosts as part of their preparations for the WAFU Zone B U17 Championship.",
  "key_points": [
    "Black Starlets’ road trip to Burkina Faso was planned.",
    "Team trained in Bolgatanga due to similar climate.",
    "Championship starts October 10."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}