The Black Princesses of Ghana suffered a 2-1 defeat against Austria in their opening match of the 2024 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup, held in Colombia. Despite a valiant late effort, Yussif Basigi’s team was unable to overcome the tournament debutants in the match played last night at the El-Techo Stadium in Bogota.

Ghana, entering the game as favorites, fielded a strong lineup against Markus Hackl’s Austrian side. However, Austria took an early lead when Hannah Frankhauser capitalized on a defensive mistake to score a simple tap-in in the 12th minute.

The Black Princesses’ woes continued in the 70th minute when Asana Alhassan’s handball in the box resulted in a penalty, which Nicole Ojukwu converted to double Austria’s lead.

Although Ghana dominated possession, they only managed to find the back of the net in the 93rd minute when Stella Nyamekye struck a powerful shot past the Austrian goalkeeper, reducing the deficit.

The Black Princesses will next face the 2018 champions, Japan, in their upcoming match on Thursday at 10 pm.