The Black Princesses are currently camping at the Ghanaman Soccer Centre of Excellence in Prampram as they prepare to play South Africa in the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup qualifiers.

Head Coach Charles Sampson gives an update on the team’s preparation ahead of the crucial encounter.

On training and conditioning

Training is going on well. We are focusing on conditioning and our structure of play. Many players are not in camp yet, so we are expecting some players to arrive in the next week, and then we can start shaping up the way we want. So far, it's looking really good. It's very interesting; we've got some new faces to look at, and it's very impressive.

On new players settling in

It’s going better than I thought. It looks like they know each other already, so you can see that the relationship is already building. They are feeling at home, and the environment is welcoming. They are quickly blending in very easily. Now it’s up to us to see which of them is ripe enough to help us now or in the future.

On Ghana's mission

Our mission is to go to the World Cup, so it really doesn’t matter if we play South Africa at home first or away. But now we have a home game, so our intention is to take advantage of it. It is our home, and with our supporters behind us, we are expecting – and we hope – that we take advantage of it, so that we go to South Africa with a bit of an advantage.

On South Africa

South Africa is also a team that plays almost like us – a bit of free-flowing football – which makes me look forward to it, because it looks like it’s going to be an interesting game. We are playing at home first, so we want to get this support and get a massive win to be able to carry it to Johannesburg. So we hope that Ghanaians will come and support us the way we want them to.

Ghana will play South Africa in the first leg in the first week of February in Accra before traveling to South Africa for the reverse fixture.

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