Black Princesses coach Yusif Basigi says CAF decision to postpone their upcoming clash against Guinea Bissau is a blessing in disguise.
The Princesses were preparing to play Guinea Bissau in a 2020 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup qualifier in September, however, the match has been called off due to travel restrictions.
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CAF announced to its member associations that all qualifying matches set to be played in September for the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Costa Rica/Panama 2020 have been postponement.
A statement read: Due to travel restrictions across parts of Africa as a result of COVID-19, the qualifiers for the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Costa Rica/Panama 2020 scheduled for September 2020 has been postponed.
The First Round first leg was fixed for 3-5 September 2020 with the return leg from 10-12 September 2020.Â
The revised fixtures for the qualifiers will be announced in due course after consultation with the various stakeholders.
Two teams will qualify to represent Africa at the final tournament from 20 January – 6 February 2021 in Costa Rica and Panama.
Meanwhile, CAF is monitoring the situation closely and working with the relevant authorities with regards to hosting of the matches, and will make pronouncements accordingly in the event of developments that will affect playing a match at the designated venue.
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Speaking on the issue for the first time, the coach said the Covid-19 break has affected his players and CAF postponing the upcoming matches will help his outfit.
"We started training on Monday with individual training, just as we are doing right now and response to training is not too bad.
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 till the end of this week before we go into individual ball game. 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 on a slower pace."
The Black Princesses resume training last week at the Cape Coast Stadium under the guidance of the coach Yusif Basigi after President Akufo-Addo gave them the green light to commence training.
The team broke camp in March, 2020 due to the ban on contact sport.