Ghana Under 20 Women’s coach Bashir Hayford is upbeat about progression after their opening day win.

After seeing his side edge hosts Canada 1-0 in their FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup opening game, Hayford knows advancement is within reach.

“It was a good game, I appreciated all that I’ve seen tonight. And at the end of the day, the best team won,” said Hayford in Toronto post-game.

The three points put Ghana second Group A after Sherifatu Sumaila got the winner, which got the admiration of the manager.

“We already learnt our first lesson: in a World Cup, nothing will be easy. We suffered, but we won.”

For Bashir Hayford, the only good news for Ghana will be advancement in the World Cup.

The Princesses did not score a single goal in the last edition of the tournament but stunned host nation Canada on Wednesday.

Ghana’s 1-0 win gave Africa its first victory as Nigeria play later.

“I had said before the tournament that we had the potential to win the World Cup. I don’t know if we’ll do it, but we do see some signs,” Bashir said afterwards.

But do the Princesses have the potential to be contenders for the title with Germany and USA as favorites?

“We need to advance from the group stage before thinking about the possibility of landing a dream World Cup can be made real.”

“And we sent a signal that we’re not here for fun – we’re here for business. If I didn’t want to win the World Cup, we wouldn’t be here.”

Tough talk from a tough manager with a tough reputation in his native Ghana, but his bluff would be tested again on Friday against Korea DPR.

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Source: Citifmonline.com/Ghana