2020 Tokyo Olympics qualifier:Black Queens seek good start against Gabon

Ghana’s Black Queens are confident of getting their 2020 Olympic Games qualifying campaign off to a good start when they play Gabon in the first leg of their first round tie in Libreville this afternoon.

The Libreville clash is one of eight matches lined up for this first round as 16 teams continue the search for Africa’s single slot for the Summer Games to be hosted by Tokyo.

Despite the laborious journey laced with dicey clashes in the qualifying campaign which ends in February 2020, Ghana’s coach, Mercy Tagoe-Quarcoo, believes her side will make it to the very end.

She told the Daily Graphic that their focus in Gabon would be to earn a good result to ease the pressure on them when they host the second leg on September 3.

According to the coach, after three weeks of intensive training she was confident that the players named for the Gabon game would deliver their game plan in Libreville.

“No side can be underrated in women’s football now, and so we will be cautious in our approach in order not to concede but definitely, we will push for a good result.

“We have the players to get us goals but we will be cautious not to open up too much for the Gabonese who will play a high pressing game to get an early goal.

We intend to keep it compact in the middle and at the rear but certainly we will be exploiting the chances we create,” she said.

The other matches scheduled for this first round, first leg are: Cote d’Ivoire versus Mali; Algeria versus Nigeria; Ethiopia versus Cameroun; DR Congo versus Equatorial Guinea; Malawi versus Kenya; Zambia versus Zimbabwe and Botswana versus South Africa.