Black Queens head coach Kim Lars Bjorkegren says Ghana is ready to go one level up against Cameroon on Sunday, backing his side to raise their game in what he expects to be a tough WAFCON clash.
Speaking ahead of the clash against Cameroon, the coach praised the group’s progress and defensive solidity but admitted Ghana must be more clinical in front of goal.
He described Cameroon as a balanced side with experience and hungry young players, including Dimitri, who he believes will make them more organised. But he insists pressure isn’t a factor.
Here is what he told the press on Saturday:
On grabbing three points in first game
Yeah, like always, we’re looking forward to the next game. We did what we should in the first game. We took the three points and we moved on. We did good things. We did things that we can learn from and improve. Tomorrow, with respect for Cameroon, it’s going to be one level up, I expect.
On playing Cameroon
We’re going to play against a good Cameroon team. A Cameroon team with experienced players, with quality. They have a good balance. They also have young, hungry players. I know Dimitri has also been coming into the team. I guess that will help them as well — they’re going to be potentially more organised. I think it’s going to be a tough one, but like always, I’m starting to know the girls very well now and I believe in them. I also know when the opponent is more difficult to play against, it normally means that we play a better game. For me personally, pressure doesn’t exist.
On the group of players
I actually think that we are in a good place, the whole group, including the most important — the players. We have built something that we are proud of. We are well organised. It’s difficult normally to score against us. We have a really strong collective defence, I would say, good goalkeepers as well. So, we believe in ourselves and we know that our highest potential has always been good, since the first day that I came in, at least, what I know. But I think the lowest level has been up — it’s just been getting better and better.
Of course, we know it’s going to be a tough game tomorrow, but at the same time, most of the time when we play against good teams, we just play better. And we have seen it in the last year. If you’re looking back at when we played against England, for example, even if they are one of the best teams in the world, we gave them a fight away in England. We played against Russia and we won 4-0, for example. So, every time when we get tests, we actually step up and prove that we are even better than we maybe thought. And I hope it’s going to be the same thing tomorrow.
On being ready for the game
But we also need to remember that nothing comes for free. We need to be out there. We need to be ready from the first second and take this good opportunity. We know both teams have a good chance with three points to take you to the next step, of course. So, I expect a tough, hard game, but I believe in us. I wish it was easy to say, but I think we had 16-1 in chances against Cape Verde and the xG was over four. So of course, to only score two, that’s something we talked about. But at the same time, like I’m always saying, you don’t miss a good chance on purpose. You may be having a bad day or you need to be a little bit more concentrated next time. And you need to take care of the opportunities, especially when you play against a strong team like Cameroon. We can’t expect 16-1 in chances. So maybe we’ll cut that to eight and then we need to probably score more than one goal to maybe win the game.
On taking chances
Who knows? But we need to take care of the chances and hopefully we will do that. Very respectful and fair here — the history will always be there, but as a coach and a player, you live here and now in this bubble. And it’s a little bit boring to say, but it’s always about the next game and doing everything we can here and now. So, what happened before doesn’t matter at all for us right now.
On essence of getting a good result now over dwelling on the past
When we are getting older, maybe, and we may be looking back at it and discuss football with the Ghanaian people or African people overall. Maybe we meet some from Cameroon in the future. We may be going to discuss what happened in this tournament. But here and now, it’s all about performing tomorrow and doing the best in this tournament.
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