The Black Princesses coach shares his thoughts on rescheduling of their encounter with their West African counterparts
Ghana coach Yusif Basigi is not bothered by the postponement of their upcoming 2021 Fifa U20 World Cup qualifiers against Guinea-Bissau due the coronavirus challenges.
The two-legged home-and-away tie has been moved from September to a yet-to-be-announced date owing to safety concerns. It is the second time the games have been rescheduled.
A team of 31 players began camping in Cape Coast before continental football’s governing body, Caf announced the latest postponement.
“We started training on Monday with individual training, just as we are doing right now and response to training is not too bad,” Basigi said, as reported by the Ghana Football Association’s official website.
“We started on a lower pace so we will be climbing slowly. I think the postponement has been a blessing in disguise for us and because of that, we will not rush the team into physical conditioning.
“We will be doing that until the end of this week before we go into individual ball games. The players will be doing strength and power as well so that they can rest the next day because we are going to work on the lower and upper extremities and as a result of that, they need about 24 hours rest before we do recovery.
“The long stay in the house has affected the players and that’s why we are taking our time to reduce their weight but it should be at a slower pace.”
The postponement is not the only recent setback ahead of the upcoming games.
The U20 team are jointly in camp with the U17 women’s team, who are also preparing for World Cup qualifiers against Nigeria. Last week, a combined total of seven players were confirmed positive for coronavirus when the two teams went through testing upon camp resumption as part of health and safety protocols.
The precise identity of the positive players and their division between the two teams have not been revealed by the Football Association.
The Ghana-Guinea-Bissau exchange was initially set for March but the coronavirus pandemic forced a rescheduling to September. Last week, and for the second time, Caf announced the postponement of the matches, this time indefinitely.
With the final tournament scheduled for January-February next year, the qualifiers are nonetheless expected to be concluded before the end of 2020.
Be the first to comment