Ghana endured another heavy at the 2018 Fifa U-20 Women’s World Cup on Wednesday, leaving them with no chance of advancing to the knockout stage.
The Black Princesses were beaten 4-0 by the Dutch in their second game in Group A just within four days of an earlier 4-1 loss to hosts France.
Ghana enjoyed all the possession but the Netherlands were the more clinical side. They took a 3-0 lead in the first half, scoring all within an 11-minute period through Aniek Nouwen in the 21st minute and Fenne Kalma brace on 28 and 32 minutes. Victoria Pelova sealed the emphatic victory for the World Cup debutants with her goal ten minutes from time.
Seeking to provide answers to his side’s poor display, Princesses coach Basigi said his opponents “they took advantage of their style of play and we didn’t take advantage of ours.”
“Our style of play is to possess, attack, keep the ball on the turf but unfortunately, the midfielders were giving the passes to the opponents so that was why things didn’t go well for us,” he stated at post-match.
Poor defending
“In the first 15 minutes, we had all the chances to punish the Netherlands but unfortunately we couldn’t utilize the chances and as a result, they lifted up their game and turned it on us [sic].”
“We were much aware of how the Netherlands play on the flanks but unfortunately, our left and right-backs did not also stop them from attacking from the flanks. And we saw that all the goals they scored apart from the fourth were from the flanks. It was unfortunate that my defenders lost focus completely…,” Basigi explained.
The Netherlands go top of Group A with six points ahead of France who play New Zealand later in the evening. A win for France sees them join the Dutch in the quarterfinals.
Ghana and New Zealand meet in the last group match on Sunday, August 12.
- SportsAfric
