We’ve qualified but... — Coach Bash

Coach Bashir Hayford is relieved that he has achieved his first target of qualifying the Black Princesses for this year’s Women’s World Cup (WWC) in Canada in August. Now he is preparing for his real headache which is building a team good enough to compete impressively at the Canada tournament.

Last Sunday, the Princesses laboured to beat Equatorial Guinea, scoring a goal to cancel an earlier 0-1 loss in Malabo and the final qualifying had to be settled on penalties which the Princesses won 4-3.

It was a great relief for both the team and fans but it also heralded a crucial time ahead of the August tournament and Coach Hayford seemed to have figured out what he had to do to his team.

“Definitely we are relieved that we have qualified admittedly in a very difficult way. That is the first phase of the WWC project. We will get down to work as soon as possible for the second phase which is building a team for the competition. Securing qualification means work has begun for Canada 2014,” Coach Hayford told the Graphic Sports.

He said every department of the game would need attention and he was going to cast the net wide to check out as many players as possible.

“It is early days yet to talk about our target for the World Cup. What will engage our attention is building a formidable team. After two attempts, our third should certainly be far better and that is what we will prepare for.

“We need to get more competition between the goalkeepers. At the moment, we have only two strong goalkeepers and that is not good enough. They seem to be in their comfort zone. Definitely, we need more options in defence but the areas that will engage my attention most will be the midfield and striking areas. They are the hub of the team and we will have to have the strongest and the best,” he indicated.