Ghana hungry to reach knockouts for first time

After seven previous failed attempts at reaching the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup™ knockout stages dating back to 2010, Ghana's hopes of breaking their duck at Poland 2026 looked extremely bleak after their opening 3-0 defeat to Ecuador.

"At this level, it is very difficult if you defend a bit naively," conceded Ghana coach Charles Sampson afterwards. "We just have to accept it, we have two more games and we have to work on ourselves now."

The work that the Black Princesses' put into training paid off in spades as they bounced back to convincingly defeat Korea Republic 3-1 in Katowice to give themselves a realistic shot of achieving their "principal aim", as Sampson put it, of punching their ticket to the Round of 16 for the first time.

Two goals in a three-minute spell from Sarah Nyarko and Ivy Osei Owusu followed by a late Nam Seungeun own goal have Ghana dreaming of making some long-awaited history.

"It would mean everything [to reach the Round of 16 for the first time]. We have a lot of people from our federation that have come to support us and we know that they are expecting that from us," Ghana defender Alexandra Tay told FIFA.

"I think this is a group that is hungry to do that. It's been 16 years that we've been in this competition and we haven't done it and it's something that we're looking to do now."

The key to remaining strong after the opening setback, she adds, has been positive communication.

"This team in terms of the team culture has always been really strong. From our coaches, the mantra is communication always but it's positive communication and it's never negative communication, so we know how to be constructive as well. We try to encourage each other and lift each other up."

Next up for Ghana is a tough test against France, who followed up a 1-1 draw with Korea Republic to snatch a last-gasp 3-2 victory against Ecuador.

"France are a very strong team so we're excited to face them," Tay added. "You're always excited to face a strong opponent so we'll go back and prepare for that."

Looking ahead to Brazil 2027 Play-Off Tournament

Participating in her second U-20 showpiece, Tay has already made the move up to the senior team at the recent 2026 Women's Africa Cup of Nations.

The centre-back is hoping that the additional international experience she gets in Poland will help prepare her for a possible call-up to the preliminary phase of the FIFA Women’s World Cup Brazil 2027™ Play-Off Tournament.

Ghana are one of six teams taking part alongside Chinese Taipei, Ecuador, Papua New Guinea, South Africa and Uzbekistan in the event which runs between November and December.

In the preliminary phase, each team will play a total of three matches, with those finishing first and second overall advancing to the final phase.

"Any time you get the opportunity to play in a tournament with such a high level of competition to build your performances and qualities, I think that is really helpful for us [to prepare]," Tay added.