Sports News of Wednesday, 4 March 2020

Source: ghanasoccernet.com

Mercy Tagoe optimistic of a good start in Turkish Women's Cup

Black Queens head coach Mercy Tagoe says her side is aware of the quality and pedigree of Chile ahead of the opening match at the Turkish Women's Cup on Wednesday.

Ghana are in Group B which includes African side Kenya, Northern Ireland B and 2020 Olympic hopefuls Chile in the eight-nation invitational tournament from 2 to 11 March 2020 in Turkey.

This would be Tagoe's first tournament following her reappointment as the Black Queens trainer in January after finishing third in the 2019 WAFU Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast.

Following a disappointing exit from the 2020 Olympics qualifications, the tournament will be very useful to Tagoe as she looks to build a formidable side for the 2020 Women's Africa Cup of Nations.

The former Ghana international is confident of leading her side to a winning start against the South American team at Starlight Sports Complex on Wednesday in Alanya.

"We are happy to be here and fully ready for the tournament and everybody is in shape and have adapted to the weather," Tagoe told Goal.com

"We watched Chile at the Women's World Cup in France last year and so, we have a fair idea about them.

"We have already put some tactical training sessions in place that will help us cope against them on Wednesday.

"During our training here, there were one or two things we've introduced that I think will be very useful for us in the match against Chile.

"We know their style of game is quite different from ours and when they tend to increase the pace of the game, we will try to calm and slow things down.

"We have organised ourselves well and also planned to provide antidotes to every approach they want to put up against us."

Ghana aim at winning the tournament on their very first participation.