Coach Ben Fokuo of the Black Princesses has given up on his team’s hopes of making it through the group stage of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.
The Black Princesses suffered two defeats at the Costa Rica 2022 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup: a 2-0 loss to Japan in their second encounter and a 3-0 defeat to the USA in their opening group game.
Coach Fokuo claimed that the Black Princesses were dejected after two penalties were given against them against Japan in remarks made following his team’s defeat on Sunday. The crew would now have to shift its attention to getting ready for the following edition, he added.
“It is unfortunate we lost our second group game which means for the 6th attempt, we won’t make it past the group stage’’ Ben Fokuo said in a post-match interview.
“Our first half performance was better than the second half. We started the second half on a better note until we conceded the penalty which I think pushed the girls down a little bit.
“We conceded another penalty and it is unfortunate to concede through a penalty but I think we played better than our first game.
“We wanted to go at least to the quarter-finals but that didn’t happen. It is sad not to make it this time again so we will go back and work hard so that in the next edition, we will try our best to make it from the group stage,” he added.
On Wednesday, August 17, at 22:00 GMT, the Black Princesses will meet the Netherlands in their final group D encounter at the Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica.