WAFCON: ‘Ghana very strong team but everything is possible’ – Algeria’s Benstiti

Algeria women’s national team coach Farid Benstiti is aware of the challenge that awaits them against Ghana when they face off in the quarterfinals of the CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) at Berkane Stadium in the Oriental Province of Morocco on Saturday.

The North Africans will head into the last eight fixture having kept three clean sheets in a tough Group B including a 1-0 victory over Botswana and two 0-0 draws with neighbours Tunisia and nine-time record winners Nigeria.

“This is the first time that we are in the quarterfinals. We know that Ghana is a very strong team but just like in the group stage, we will try and do our best to win this quarterfinal because everything is possible in football,” said Benstiti as quoted by CAFOnline.

“I think that they [Ghana] are close to Nigeria. They are an athletic team but at this stage, we really want to prove that it is because we played well that we are here in the quarterfinals. We respect Ghana but we will play and try to win this game.”

While they have enjoyed a good display defensively, Algeria have been shy in front of the goals, and discussing the issue, Benstiti said: “It is true that we have only scored once in this competition, but our target is still the same. We want to win the game [against Ghana].

“Football in the quarterfinals is 50/50. It is not a problem for us that we only won one game in the group stages. We want to grow again. This means that we want to be more efficient than Ghana. We shall continue to play offensively.”

Ghana have won two of their matchups against Algeria at the WAFCON including a 2-1 win in 2010 and a 1-0 victory at home in 2018.