The two African representatives at this year’s U20 Women’s World Cup have been handed tricky Groups at the competition with Nigeria drawn to face last edition’s host, France while Ghana will play defending champions, Japan.
The Black Princesses of Ghana will face tougher opponents in Group D as they will play title holders Japan, the Netherlands and USA.
The Black Princesses, captained by 2021 TotalEnergies Women’s Champions League superstar and Avaldsnes striker, Evelyn Badu, enjoyed an impressive form in the qualifiers, cruising past Mauritania, Zambia, Uganda and Ethiopia to book a sixth consecutive qualification to the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.
The Black Princesses of Ghana will be seeking a revenge over the Netherlands that defeated them 4-0 at the 2018 U-20 Women’s World Cup in France, as they aim to break their quarterfinal jinx. In its previous five consecutive appearances in the tournament, Ghana failed to progress beyond the group stages. With the current tough draw, it will require a lot more efforts than mere luck for the team to progress in the competition in its sixth appearance.
Meanwhile, the two-time runners-up, Nigeria, will also take on 2010 bronze winner, South Korea in Group C in addition to Canada, a team Nigeria has met in three previous editions at the group stages.
The Falconets, led by captain Oluwatosin Demehin, showcased an excellent run in the qualifiers, beating the Central African Republic, Congo, Cameroon and Senegal to qualify for the competition for a record 10th consecutive time, scoring 25 goals and conceding just twice.
The African Games champions, the Falconets of Nigeria, will seek to extend their group stage supremacy over the Canadians in their fourth meeting but must avoid a slip up against 2016 runners-up, France which is arguably one of the teams to look out for in the tournament this year.
Groups too difficult to predict
Panelist are finding it very difficult to label any group as the group of death in the upcoming tournament. This is because all the Groups look well-balanced on paper, leaving them open as any of the teams can progress to the quarterfinals in all the four groups.
In the overall draw, host nation, Costa Rica and Brazil will clash at this year’s tournament after they were put in Group A alongside Australia and Spain. Another interesting group to look out for is Group B where Germany, Columbia, New Zealand and Mexico will fight for the tickets available for the quarterfinals.
The draw in San José, the Costa Rican capital, on Thursday was attended by the 16 national teams’ representatives, including the two African countries participating in the competition. The draw assistants featured some Costa Rican legends, Shirley Cruz and Paulo César Wanchope Watson.
Host Costa Rica, who will be playing in its third U-20 Women’s World Cup this year, will square up against Brazil in the tournament’s opening game at the Estadio Nacional in San Jose. The women’s youth competition kicks off on 10th August 2022 and the final is set for 28th August 2022.
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