After guiding Ghana to a thrilling penalty shootout win over Algeria in the TotalEnergies Women’s Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinals, Coach Kim Lars Bjorkegren expressed his pride and admiration for his team’s hard work and dedication.
He praised goalkeeper Cynthia Konlan for her crucial saves in the penalty shootout and reflected on the team’s growth and improvement throughout the tournament.
With the Black Queens set to face Morocco in the semifinal, Bjorkegren’s words convey a sense of determination and focus, as the team looks to build on their momentum and make a deep run in the tournament.
Here is what he told the media after the win over Algeria:
On emotions after such a hard-earned win
Yeah, a lot of emotions, I would say, but most of all I’m happy for the players and for the other coaches, the staff, everybody that works so hard around the team. They’re doing a great job. It’s so many that deserve this victory. So I’m really happy for them and proud of their girls. I really like the hard work that they’re putting in today, it’s amazing.
On having only two days to prepare for the semifinal
Here and now, we need to enjoy the victory and celebrate a little bit tonight, but of course it’s going to be tough to play the semi-final far away from here. I guess it’s going to be breakfast tomorrow, a little bit of recovery training and then the bus to Rabat. That’s probably going to take the whole day.
Then it’s just one day of recovery training in Rabat and then its game again. Of course, I wish that we had one or two more days, but that’s the life as a football player and a coach. To mentally recover and for them maybe more physical recovery and then be ready to do everything we can in the semi-final. Of course, it’s going to be a hard job for our medical team now to help the players to be as ready as possible.
On team mentality after shaking off loss to South Africa to reach the semifinal
I agree with you. I said it also after the first two games that I felt that we were a little bit unlucky. I think we played pretty well, and I know how it is in football. One day you’re unlucky and the next day it switches. You get what you deserve, and I think in some way today it was in the end. Penalties can go in all different directions, but I believe that we lacked a little bit of luck in the start of the tournament, and it came back now today.
On growing in the tournament
I think it’s always important in a tournament that you are growing as a group. If you’re looking at the best teams in the tournaments, even if you look at the men’s football or World Cup or whatever it is, it’s maybe not the team that wins the first game with 5-0 or whatever it is that’s going to win the whole tournament. It’s the team that keeps growing and taking it step by step and you have players that are showing up that you maybe haven’t seen before. I think it’s amazing with this group how they are moving forward the whole time and players that are taking their chances. I’m happy to be a coach for this really great group of talented players.
On conversation with players before penalty shootouts
I didn’t say that much before the penalties. Of course, we have penalties in the training and things like that. I had a plan for it before we took them. In the end, I just said that it doesn’t matter if we win or lose this game. I’m really proud of how far they worked and everything they did. I told them to try to just enjoy and take care of this moment.
On goalkeeper Cynthia Konlan
If I take the goalkeeper Cynthia, she is someone that I have been talking to a lot when it comes to penalties. She tried to move a little bit, try to be a little bit bigger and show that she really wants to make the saves. We watched, for example, the Swedish goalkeeper the other day against England that did a great job from the line. Now she did it. It’s so fun to see how many great saves she did and a really big hero for us today.
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