FIFA U20 Women's World Cup: Black Princesses Suffer Defeat in Opener Against Austria
- The Black Princesses of Ghana lost their opening game at the FIFA U20 Women's World Cup
- The West Africans suffered a 2-1 defeat to debutants Austria on Monday night in Bogota
- Ghana will face former champions Japan and New Zealand in the next two games of Group E
Ghana's Black Princesses got off to a poor start at the FIFA U20 Women's World Cup in Colombia after losing their opening game to debutants Austria.
A late consolation from Stella Nyamekye could not help as the Black Princesses lost their first game of the tournament 2-1 in Bogota.
Austria, who were making their first appearance at the World Cup, started brightly breaking the deadlock just 12 minutes into the match after Hannah Fankhauser finished off a brilliant team move.
Source: Getty Images
With the West Africans chasing an equaliser, a mistake in the box saw Austria win a penalty, which was converted by Nicole Ojukwu in the 71st minute.
Nyamekye's strike from outside the box in injury time could only half the deficit as Ghana succumbed to defeat, as reported by FIFA.
Ghana coach confident despite defeat
Yussif Basigi remains hopeful of positive results ahead of the games against Japan and New Zealand in Group E.
‘’We started the game slowly and getting to the latter part of the first half we started raising our game and for the second half we dominated play when we were down by a goal,’’ he told the media, as quoted by Ghana FA.
‘’We didn’t utilise many of our goal scoring chances which was unfortunate. I think this is where we have to polish very well so that we will be able to be back in contention.
‘’The second half performance was very good if we had started the first half like the way we did in the second half, it would have been super but we started slowly.
‘’I wouldn’t say there is no pressure at all because if we had won or drawn this game against Austria, it would’ve given us motivation but now we have no option than to go all out with the remaining two games to go."
Black Princesses ready for World Cup
Earlier, Yen.com.gh reported that Ghana's U20 female team, the Black Princesses rounded up preparations ahead of the start of the FIFA U20 Women's World Cup with a friendly encounter against South Korea.
The West Africans, who will be making a seventh straight appearance at the competition, were held to a 2-2 draw at the Centro Deportivo Choquenza.
In a thrilling encounter on Tuesday, August 27, 2024, the Asian opened the scoring after 15 minutes from the spot.
PAY ATTENTION: Stay informed and follow us on Google News!
Source: YEN.com.gh
