"We cannot reap where you haven't sown" - Coach Edusei

Accra, Nov. 10, GNA - Black Queens Coach, Anthony Edusei has fingered the team's preparation after Ghana crashed out at the group stage of the on-going 7th African Women Championship (AWC) in South Africa.

Ghana exited on three points after beating Algeria 2-1; losing by the same margin to Cameroon before bowing out with a 3-1 loss to defending champions Equatorial Guinea.

Speaking to GNA Sports, Coach Edusei said nature of the team's preparation also contributed to their performance at the biennial gathering.

"The nature of preparation was not good. It is important to play all year round to be able to build a good team," he said.

Ghana had a low key preparation before fine-tuning for eight days in Hanover, Germany and though the coach hailed the preparation ahead of the tournament, he claims that that build-up was less than enough.

"Like the boys, there must be leagues, colts and academies to be able to build a solid team. This will let them play for the greater part of the year. There should also be structures for the women's game," Coach Edusei added.

Talking about the future, Coach Edusei said "we can give ourselves some four to six years to hit the peak. We are currently phasing out the old players and introducing some younger ones."

This is the second successive time Ghana has exited at the group stage of the biennial gathering in which they have thrice finished as silver medallists.

The Queens faced a must-win game to advance from the group stage but failed to eclipse Equatorial Guinea who scored once and twice in each half to top Group B and set a semi final meeting with hosts South Africa in their last game.

They have made appearances in all seven editions of the competition, and for this year's competition, they scored four times through Agnes Aduako and conceded seven goals in three games in South Africa.

The outcome means the Queens will for the first time miss FIFA Women's World Cup slated for Germany in 2011 since the inception of the continental qualifiers.

The two finalists in South Africa automatically qualify for the quadrennial global showpiece.

GNA