U-20 WWC: Black Princesses need to score six past the Netherlands to advance later today

After unconvincing performances in their first two games at the ongoing U-20 Women’s World Cup, the Black Princesses will hope to end their group stage journey on a high.

Ghana have not enjoyed the best of start to the tourney after suffering defeats against USA and Japan respectively.

Ben Fokuo’s side succumbed to a 3-0 loss when they played USA in the opening game before two second-half penalty goals saw them lose to Japan.

The Princesses’ hopes of making history by advancing to the knockout phase were kept alive after the Netherlands beat USA 3-0 in the second round of fixtures.

However, Ghana will have to produce a stunning six-goal margin win to give themselves any chance of relishing that dream.

Winning with a six-goal margin will not be the only requirement of Fokuo’s team but they will also have to hope Japan beat USA in the other group game.

Speaking ahead of the game, technical advisor of the team, Nora Hauptle, says the team will “fight until the last minute” as they hope to finish on a good note.

“We work on our performance and we know that in the last game anything can happen so we focus on our performance and it is rising so we can take the momentum and in soccer, everything is possible,” she said as quoted by the Ghana Football Association (GFA).

“We will fight until the last minute considering the fact that we have one of the toughest groups but until the last minute, we believe that it is possible.”

The game is scheduled for a 23:00 GMT kick-off.

In Ghana’s only meeting with the Netherlands at this stage, they suffered a 4-0 loss.

Fixtures (GMT)

23:00 USA v Japan

23:00 Netherlands v Ghana

Stats
7
Victory over USA would move Japan on to seven successive wins in the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. Only two teams in the competition’s history have put together longer winning runs: USA (10 between 2002 and ’04) and Germany (12 between 2008 and ’12).

0
Nigeria have kept more clean sheets in their opening two games at Costa Rica 2022 than they did in their previous 15 outings in the competition.

Quotes
“Ghana will be a very difficult match. They are very physical and have a lot of speed on the counter. We will therefore have to remain calm and not give away too much space at the back. We will certainly not underestimate Ghana, but we’re clearly in a good position” – Jessica Torny, Netherlands coach

“We have girls with a lot of character: they are hurt, you could see that, but they will be fine for the next game. We’re still in with a chance and will be going all out to get the win against Japan” – Tracey Kevins, USA coach

Source: JoyOnline