The Black Maidens of Ghana are set to begin their U-17 Women’s World Cup qualifiers on Sunday, 1st March, 2020 by playing away to the Lonestar of Liberia in Monrovia.
The team has been in camp for the past few weeks and featured in several low and high profile games geared toward shaping the edges for the task ahead and recorded some impressive results in the process.
Ahead of the game in Monrovia, Head Coach Baba Nuhu has been speaking to the Communications team on how preparations has been for his side.
“We’ve been here for a month now and started with 43 players where the first week was used to prune down the numbers to 32. Only a few can make the squad so we’ve been able to psyche the players up. The technical team have taken them through a lot of activities like techniques, tactics, and the physical development aspect of the game. For now we are ready even though some people may say four weeks is not enough, but to me I’m ok because the national women’s league is still on-going and it’s been helping.
The team is made up of a conglomerate of Players from the lower Division sides and a few young ones from the Premier League clubs and when asked about the qualities at his disposal, the coach has this to say;
“I have always maintained that they are all potentials and can play for Black Maidens. The important thing is we are keeping all of them even though we will be traveling with 18 players. The rest will go home and rest and a few will rejoin the team after the trip to Liberia”.
The Lonestars began their campaign against Niger in a two legged affair where they defeated Niger 4-0 in Monrovia and 5-0 in Niamey. Coach Baba Nuhu elaborates on the strength and weaknesses of his opponent and what he has done to curtail any treat they might pose on Sunday.
“As for the opponent I can’t say much but all I can say is that, I have had the opportunity of watching them in Niger during their last qualifier and they are not a bad side. Gone are the days when Ghana can get a country and beat them heavily but now football is everywhere and you cannot underate any opponent. When I watched them, they were not a bad side at all because they equally have good players like we do and a win will depend on whoever have the best of preparations. Technically they have players who have very good technique and on a good day they can play well so based on this whiles conducting my training, I have being able to inculcate one or two things that will prevent their best players from playing couple with employing our own technique that we will use in Liberia”.
As one of the few players from the previous U17 squad that did Ghana proud in the FIFA Women’s U17 World Cup in Uruguay and now the captain of the current squad, Bassira Alhassan believes the team is ready.
“All I can say is the team is well prepared for this World Cup qualifiers ahead of us.We have being in camp for some few weeks, we train and played together as usual so I think we are well prepared for the task. Ghana is always at the top and there is no fear in us because we are always ready to defend the nation. What I can say to Ghanaians is they should be with us in prayers and support us and we will also be able to deliver good results for them”.
The clash will take place at the Antoinette Tubman Stadium, at 4:00pm GMT in Monrovia, Liberia with a return leg set to take place two weeks later in Ghana.