Black Queens coach Kim Lars Bjorkegren has been speaking the media ahead of Ghana’s TotalEnergies Women’s Africa Cup of Nations quarter final lash against Algeria. He touched on team preparation, strengths of the opponents, and also emphasized the importance of building a positive team culture and giving all players opportunities to showcase their abilities. Kim Lars anticipates a tough game against Algeria, praising the team’s organization and coach. He believes Ghana needs to maintain its style of play and take advantage of scoring opportunities to succeed.
Read on for the transcript:
On staying in Berkane and not traveling t Rabat for the match
Yeah, I’m happy to actually stay here. I mean, we’re going to play our third game here. I am glad that we can stay in the same hotel that we had before and also the fact that we didn’t need to travel to Rabat. So instead, we had one extra day off for the players. They went to the beach, had some fun instead of sitting on a bus. So of course, I think that really helps us.
On Algeria
I know the coach of Algeria very well. I know that he coached in the French League. I coached against him in China, actually. I know he’s a really good coach, so I’m not surprised that the Algerian team is very organised. Maybe potentially the best organised team in this tournament. The coach is doing a good job there. It’s going to be a difficult game for us, for sure. We need to do our things.
We need to keep building. We’re a pretty new team. We have many young players. I’ve only been on the team for five months, so we can see that we’re doing better and better, more or less, for each game. But at the end of the day, we need to take this opportunity. We need to not be scared out there. Instead, see it in the opposite way that we actually have a great chance to go to the next round. So just be there, do our best, and I’m sure that we have a good chance to go to the next step.
On how to deal with Algeria threat
Yeah, like I said, Algeria are really a good, organised team, especially in the defence, also a good goalkeeper. So we, of course, have talked about that a little bit that we may need to make it a little bit more difficult for her. (5:22) So maybe we can’t shoot from 45 metres and just wish her luck. We need to create better chances, but also take the chances when they are there, not just looking for the fancy goals. But, again, it’s going to be a difficult game, but I really believe in the players and I’m sure they’re going to do a good game tomorrow.
On return of Doris Boaduwaa
Doris a great player potentially one of the best players in the country. So, of course, we will always miss her when we can’t use her. But at the end of the day, we know that our strength in this Ghana team is our depth, So, for us, we can still survive, we can still win football games without one or two players. But, again, I’m happy that she’s back.
On contribution of technical staff
I’m always doing my preparation pretty well. I’m doing it together with the coaches I work with. Of course, it’s teamwork there. I watched everything that is possible to watch with the Algerian team. So, what they have shown from that part, I know everything. But the problem is that if you are playing against a good team and with a good coach, they will always have a different card to play against you. So, at the end of the day, it’s 11 players against 11 players and they need to do the job.
On preparation and history
We try to prepare as good as we can and show what they normally do in a game. But, yeah, we can’t guarantee that they’re going to do exactly the same thing when the game starts tomorrow. But we do our best to prepare them. As far as this competition is concerned, three games between Ghana and Algeria; Ghana has an advantage with two wins while Algeria has one. As players, does that give you a psychological edge hat maybe you are beating them in their minds before you step on the field? I mean, yeah, if you look at the history between the two teams, it looks good.
On playing with new players at the AFCON
We also have to remind ourselves that we have 20 new players that got into the competition, their first AFCON. So, it’s a completely different team and we have to look at the match differently. So, we’re going to have to see and try our best to win this and make it three.
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