Vice-captain of the Black Queens team, Gifty Appiah is optimistic of the team’s chances heading into the 2018 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations scheduled for November 17 to December 1.

The Black Queens as part of preparations for the tournament have been touring Ghana, playing friendly games with some division one clubs and local women teams.

Critics have been hard on the government over what they describe as terrible preparations by a host nation heading into a tournament but Gifty Appiah says the nationwide tour and camping has enhanced the team’s chances of lifting the cup.

“"We are working hard, they are teaching us all that we need to do and we are doing our best, what we require from Ghanaians is for them to continue praying for us, continue to give us the support necessary to win and I can stand here today and on behalf of the team we can say with all that, we are hosting and we will win," Gifty Appiah said.

In a related development, The Minister of Youth and Sports, Isaac Asiamah has charged the team to ensure that ‘host and win’ mantra being propagated by the government becomes a reality.

Isaac Asiamah told the Queens, “it’s important to note that we have said that we are hosting, but let me tell you we are hosting and winning.” “Let me be honest with you, this tournament is about you, demonstrate your hard sense of patriotism and nationalism. Ghana is waiting for you, get us the gold nothing but the gold,” the Sports Minister added.

Ghana is one of eight teams who will vie for laurels as well as one of three available 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup places during the tournament which takes place between November 17 - December 1 across two host cities: Accra and Cape Coast.

The other participants are 10-time champions and AWCON holders Nigeria, two-time champions Equatorial Guinea, Algeria, Cameroon, Mali, South Africa and Zambia.