U-20 Women's World Cup: Ghana thrash South Korea to revive hopes

Ghana's Black Princesses boosted their chances of reaching the knockout stage of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Poland after securing a convincing 3-1 victory over South Korea in their second Group C match.

The win marked Ghana's first points of the tournament following a disappointing 3-0 defeat to Ecuador in their opening fixture on Sunday.

After a closely contested first half, the Black Princesses broke the deadlock seven minutes after the restart when Sarah Nyarko unleashed a long-range strike that beat the South Korean goalkeeper to hand Ghana the lead.

The West Africans doubled their advantage just three minutes later through Ivy Osei Owusu, who showed great composure to delicately chip the ball over the advancing goalkeeper and make it 2-0.

Ghana continued to dominate proceedings and effectively sealed the victory in the 84th minute when Ruth Amponsah added a third goal with a composed finish.

South Korea managed to pull one back deep into stoppage time, scoring in the fifth minute of added time, but it proved little more than a consolation as the Black Princesses comfortably saw out the remainder of the game.

The victory keeps Ghana firmly in contention for a place in the next round and provides a timely confidence boost ahead of their final Group C encounter against France on Saturday, 12 September.

A positive result against the Europeans could prove crucial as the Black Princesses bid to progress beyond the group stage of the competition.