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Black Princesses Ready For World Cup – Yussif Basigi

The Black Princesses Coach, Yusif Basigi, has reiterated that playing high-profile international friend­ly matches will aid his team’s preparation for the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup (WWC).

The Black Princesses, cur­rently in Colombia preparing for the championship, have played two high-profile friendly matches in readiness for the tournament.

First, they drew goalless against Mexico in their first match before drawing 2-2 against South Korea on Tuesday.

“The second game was an improved game as compared to the first one. In the game against Mexico, you could tell they were a bit tensed but against South Korea, they played very well looking at how the Koreans play and we were able to hold them if not for the penalty, though it is part of the game” Yusif Basigi told ghanafa.org after the match.

“Conceding two penalties is a worry but it gives us a fair idea of what to expect in the main tournament because at times referees protect players a lot and so if you are not careful with a little touch, they take a penalty against you.”

“It has given us a fair idea of what to do and we will work on that before our next game.”

“We are ready for the tourna­ment. All that we were looking for in the team, we have seen it and it has given us hope that this team will live up to expectation” GFA added.

The FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup will kick off in Co­lombia on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Coach Yusif Basi­gi has named Stella Nyamekye as the new captain of the Black Princesses ahead of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia.

The midfielder will be assisted by Northern Ladies shot stop­per, Afi Amenyeku, and ASFAR attacker, Mafia Nyame.

Stella said: “It’s an honour to be named captain of the Black Princesses and I will wear the armband with real pride. It is an honour done me to lead the team at the World Cup. I will do my best to help drive this team to success on and off the field.”

The Black Princesses will open their campaign against Austria on September 2 before taking on Japan and New Zealand in the other group E matches.