Black Princesses beat Senegal in World Cup qualifier

The female Under-20 national football team, the Black Princesses are just a match away from confirming their place in the 2024 World Cup. Ghana took a step closer to qualifications by securing a first-leg victory over their Senegalese counterparts in Senegal.

Tracy Twum scored a quickfire brace in two minutes to set the Princesses on the path to victory in Senegal. The Ampem Darkoa Ladies midfielder showed why she was nominated for CAF Inter Cup Player of the Year with a beautiful double in the first half. She scored her first in the 5th minute before adding the second two minutes later to give Yussif Basigi’s ladies the lead.

Black Princesses Coach Yussif Basigi said after the match that it “has been good but very tough. My players played well and scored in the early minutes of the game”.

Despite notching a two-nill victory away from home and set to host the final leg at home, Yussif Basigi said the team will leave nothing to chances. He said the Senegalese side cannot be underrated despite the defeat at home, expressing his desire to keep things tight until it is over.

”The Senegalese are not a bad side at all. I have a lot of respect for them and I will not conclude anything yet even though we are two steps ahead of them. We are not going to be complacent so we will not look back. Our dream to qualify to Colombia is to be focused and work extra hard so that we can get there”.

He also spoke about the need for the team to integrate well. According to Basigi, the differences affected the team in the second half as they could not convert the chances due to a lack of cohesion. He expressed readiness for the next match in Kumasi on Saturday.

”Though we didn’t score in the second half, we created some chances that we could have scored in the second half. The late arrival of the foreign-based players made them jelling with them team a bit difficult. Maafia came late and the weather in Morocco is different from that of Ghana since Ghana and Senegal have similar conditions.

“Now that we will be hosting them in Kumasi, I am expecting a better game than today. It is not bad winning two goals away from home and I will say that we have been very impressive,” Basigi stated as reported by the GFA Communication.

The U-20 Women’s World Cup will take place from August 31 to September 22, 2024 in Colombia. Ghana is aiming to make her seventh appearance in the tournament after a debut campaign in 2010. The Black Princesses are yet to make it out of the group stage despite appearing in six consecutive tournaments.