The Black Princesses were beaten 4-1 by their Japanese counterparts in their second group game at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.
A strong showing in the opening 40 minutes in Thursday’s saw the Ghanaians matching their opponents squarely despite contrasting results in their first games.
Ghana lost 1-2 to Austria last Monday while the Japanese inflicted a 7-0 drubbing on New Zealand.
Therefore, it was a promising display to see from the Africans as they held their own against the Asians.
However, the defence wall of the Black Princesses came all tumbling down in the nick of half-time when Japan scored through Chinari Sasai.
Minutes into additional time, the Japanese doubled their lead over Yusif Basigi’s girls through Manaka Matsukubo.
The 2018 champions returned from the break to add their third, putting the game beyond the Ghanaians.
Nonetheless, as characteristic of her, captain Stella Nyamekye was a perennial thorn in the flesh of the Japan defence as she pressed for at least a consolation.
And it came with seven minutes to go after being brought down in the penalty area.
She converted the resultant penalty to keep hopes of her team alive.
However, the Japanese added a fourth goal just in the last minute to book their ticket for the next round of the tournament.
Ghana would have to fight for a massive win against New Zealand in their final game on Sunday in order to stand a chance of making it to the knock-out stage.
Until then, Yusif Basigi will be suffering the same fate of not making it out of the group at this level of world football.
