Colombia 2024: Black Princesses begin World Cup campaign with defeat to Austria
The Black Princesses of Ghana fell to Austria in their first game of the ongoing 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Colombia.
The game, which was played on Monday night, saw Yussif Basigi’s side fall to a 1-2 defeat against the tournament debutants despite a late fightback.
Basigi named a strong lineup for the game against Markus Hackl girls, with his team starting as favourites. However, Austria struck first in the fixture.
Hannah Frankhauser had an easy tap-in after a sloppy defending from the Black Princesses in the 12th minute of the game.
Ghana grew into the contest after conceding the goal but Stella Nyamekye and Jennifer Owusuaa had their efforts saved by the Austrian goalkeeper.
Afi Amenyeku also came up big in the dying moments of the opening half to keep the score at 0-1 heading into the break.
Basigi’s side came back from recess the better side and created chances that should have had them levelled but the team was unsuccessful with their conversion them.
Ghana conceded a penalty in the 70th minute after the ball came off the hand of Asana Alhassan with Nicole Ojukwu stepping up to convert the resulting penalty.
With 15 minutes to go, the Black Princesses introduced Mafia Nyame, Beline Nyarkoh and Mercy Attobrah into the game and Ghana began dominating.
Despite the large spell of possession, Ghana had to wait until the 93rd minute when Stella Nyamekye sent a shot flying past the Austrian goalkeeper to halve the deficit.
That was all Ghana could manage as the game ended 1-2, marking a defeat for Ghana in their opening match.
The Black Princesses’ next game is against 2018 champions, Japan, on Thursday at 22:00 GMT.
