The Charity Stars player (Ayiah) was crucial to Ghana qualifying for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup bagging four goals at the 2017 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations qualifying event last May in Gabon.

Ayiah has already made his presence felt at the FIFA U-17 World Cup, turning provider for Ibrahim Sadiq to score the only goal in a 1-0 win over Colombia on Friday.

He is yet to fully recover from a bruising tackle in that match, although he participated in recovery training a day after Ghana accounted for Colombia.

According to the Starlets assistant coach Nuhu Adams, Ayiah is the only doubt in the Ghana team for the "must-win" clash against USA at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi.

"The injury situation is very mild, it's only Eric who has an issue but it is not too serious," coach Adams stated in an interview (below).

He added that he expects his side to improve against the USA and secure a win after the overcoming their opening day nerves thereby qualify for the next round of the competition.

However, sources close to the Starlets team have disclosed to Graphic Online that Ayiah did not complete the final training session held on Sunday ahead of today's clash.

Josh Sargent (right) and Eric Ayiah

Ayiah versus Sargent

Injury problems permitting, the Ghana versus USA tie will be a showdown between two of the most prolific strikers at the tournament; Eric Ayiah and the USA's captain and star striker Josh Sargent.

Sargent, 17, is already off the mark in the tourney, firing home the first of three unanswered goals from the penalty spot in a thrashing of hosts India.

That goal took his personal tally for the US team to 19 goals in 30 appearances since 2015.

The St. Louis Scott Gallagher player formed a fearsome triumvirate with Tim Weah (son of African football legend) and Ayo Akinola, which constantly tormented the Indian defence.

Sargent is already a member of the US national U-20 team and in May this year became the youngest player to score for the Americans at the FIFA U-20 World Cup.

He will come up against the best goalkeeper after the first round of matches Danlad Ibrahim of Kumasi Asante Kotoko, who made three stunning saves to deny Colombia a goal in Ghana's opener.

Stakes

Both teams currently have three points after winning their opening games but the USA sits on top of the Group A standings on account of their superior goal difference.

A win for either side would send them closer to qualifying for the Round of 16 stage of the competition while a draw would provide their other group opponents; India and Colombia with the opportunity to catch up to them.

Probable starting line-ups

USA: Justin Garces (GK), Jaylin Lindsey, Chris Gloster, James Sands, Chris Durkin, Ayo Akinola, Blaine Ferri, Josh Sargent (C), Tim Weah, Andrew Carleton and Chris Goslin

Ghana - Danlad Ibrahim (GK), Najeeb Yakubu, Rashid Alhassan, Abdul Yusif, Gideon Mensah, Mohammed Iddriss, Ibrahim Sadiq, Mohammed Kudus, Eric Ayiah (C), Emmanuel Toku and Mohammed Aminu

How to watch live in Ghana

The tie will be live at 11.30am on free-to-air channels GTV Sports Plus and Kwese Free Sports as well as on pay television channel Star-Times.