FIFA Women's U-20 WC-Nigeria Convincing, Ghana not so Much

The FIFA women's U-20 world cup kicked of with Ghana and Nigeria representing the continent of Africa.Both nations go to the world cup bursting with confidence and the well wishes of the entire continent spurring them on.

Nigeria made their intentions known when the beat South Korea by 2 goals to nil in a pulsating match which saw the Nigerians dominate proceedings as their vociferous fans chanted" All we are saying,Give us more goals" and so did the Falconets  respond with goals by Ngozi Okobi and Desire Oparanozie.

The Falconets executed their tactical plan to perfection.They attacked the South Koreans from the blast of the whistle by stifling the play of the South Korean  midfield and thereby cutting short the supply of balls to the S.Korean attack.The pace of the S.Koreans was  more of a myth than reality as Nigeria proved to be the quicker of the two sides.This win puts a spring in the step of the Nigerians going forward as they hope sit on top of  Group B,where Italy drew with Brazil.

Ghana however were walloped by USA by 4 goals to nil in a game which saw Ghana conceding an early own goal by Linda Addai, ending the first half with the 1 goal deficit.The second half saw the Ghanaians show a slight glimpse of brilliance in the passing game but a lack of fire power to convert their shots into goals coupled with the erratic shooting demonstrated by the Ghanaian  forwards. The Americans wasted no time  in the second half  when Penn States powerful striker,Maya Hayes gave the Ghanaian defense a torrid time with her incisive runs which exposed the defensive lapses in the Ghanaian defense.Maya Hayes  bagged a hat trick  to send the dejected Ghanaians back to the drawing board.

The tale of two nations continues with Africa's serial representatives Nigeria and Ghana at the world cup.As Nigeria's campaign begun with a convincing win,Ghana hopes to emulate the example of Nigeria.The onus then falls on the technical team headed by coach Robert Sackey to device a method of unlocking the defense of Germany who earlier on beat China by 4-0 in their next game or Robert Sackey's goal of a semi-final berth can be deemed a pipe dream.

Next match- Group D
Ghana vs Germany-8/23
USA   vs  China

Group B
Italy vs Nigeria-8/26
Korea Republic vs  Brazil