Princesses to face tough North Koreans tonight

Ghana will return to action on Friday at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup with a clash against North Korea in a potentially enthralling encounter.

The Black Princesses after defeating hosts Canada on the opening day come up against the 2006 tournament winners, at the National Soccer Stadium in Toronto.


The Group A match will kick off at 21:00GMT.


The opening day victory remains a big boost for Ghana, who have twice before appeared at the U-20 Women’s World Cup, but are still looking to advance beyond the group phase for the first time.


Bashir Hayford’s side have shown enough potential with their positive start putting them in a good position of reaching the quarter-finals.


A win over the Asian side will put them through to the next round as the Black Princesses would move on to six points.


However, in Korea DPR, the Black Princesses will be up against a tough opponent.

Valuable lessons have been picked up by both sides after their opening fixtures, but either team will be up for the three points when they clash.


“We already learnt our first lesson: in a World Cup, nothing will be easy. We suffered, but we won. I had said before the tournament that we had the potential to win the World Cup,” said Hayford.


“I don’t know if we’ll do it, but we do see some signs. And we sent a signal that we’re not here for fun – we’re here for business.”


Hwang Yong-Bong, coach of Korea DPR though not happy with his side’s performance in their victory over Finland in their first match was equally thrilled to have picked all the spoils.


“I’m very happy to have won the first game; everybody know how important it is to have a good start in a tournament,” Yong-Bong said as his side prepare to face Ghana.


Both were opening-day winners and have openly stated that they are aiming not merely at the quarter-finals but the trophy itself.

A second victory would do their ambitions no harm at all.


Player to watch



Ri Un-Sim spectacularly caught the eye at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2012 in Azerbaijan, finishing as top scorer and making a huge contribution to Korea coming within an ace of repeating their 2008 U-20 World Cup triumph.


The striker helped herself to eight goals and terrorised every defence she faced.


She was a lively and dangerous presence against the Finns in the first match, although she failed to score and will now be keen to open her account against the Ghanaians.