The Black Princesses of Ghana suffered a 2-1 defeat to Austria in their opening match of the 2024 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Colombia.
Despite a late comeback attempt, Yussif Basigi’s team fell short against the tournament debutants in the game played last night at the El-Techo Stadium in Bogota.
Basigi fielded a strong lineup against Markus Hackl’s side, with Ghana entering the match as favourites.
However, Austria struck first, with Hannah Frankhauser capitalizing on a defensive error to score an easy tap-in in the 12th minute.
Ghana’s troubles deepened in the 70th minute when Asana Alhassan handled the ball in the box, resulting in a penalty that Nicole Ojukwu converted to double Austria’s lead.
Despite dominating possession, Ghana had to wait until the 93rd minute for a breakthrough, when Stella Nyamekye fired a shot past the Austrian goalkeeper to reduce the deficit.
The Black Princesses will now face the 2018 champions, Japan, in their next match on Thursday at 10 pm.
