Black Princesses head coach Charles Sampson insists his side are ready for the challenge as Ghana prepare to meet Tunisia in the second round of qualifying for the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup.
The squad has been in camp at the Ghanaman Soccer Centre of Excellence, with Sampson encouraged by the progress despite some absentees.
“We’ve been in camp training for some time, but we’re lacking some players,” he admitted. “About three are with the Police team, and two more haven’t joined us yet. But those here have been cooperating well, and step by step we’re moving forward. So it’s looking good.”
To sharpen their intensity, the Princesses tested themselves against a boys’ side in training. “We’ve been playing a bit slow-paced game, and we wanted something that would push us physically and with speed. Playing the boys gave us exactly what we were looking for ahead of Tunisia.”
Sampson underlined that the technical team have been preparing the players both tactically and mentally for the North Africans.
“We’ve assessed them and watched some of their games. We’ve been preparing for different scenarios and the girls are cooperating well,” he said. “Our goal is to take the Princesses to the World Cup, and right now the focus is just Tunisia. Step by step, we’ll get there.”
The coach also stated that fans can expect a bold style of play.
“Ghanaians can expect good football, can expect offensive football, can expect aggressive football, football that we can dominate and dictate the pace of the game. Those are the values that we're installing in the team.”
He added that newcomer Sanai Sereboe is still settling in. “She only joined us a week ago, and she’s now getting into rhythm. The girls are also trying to know her more, so she’ll need a little bit of time.”
The Princesses begin their campaign away in Tunis on 20 September before hosting Tunisia in Accra on 28 September.
By: Pascal Amoah
