Black Princesses: New technical advisor Nora Häuptle speaks about new role and expectations
New technical advisor of the national U-20 Women’s team the Black Princesses, Nora Häuptle has resumed her role and is camping at the Ghanaman Soccer of Excellence, Prampram.
The experienced tactician and the former player who has been hired to help the Ghana Women’s U-20 team excel at the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Costa Rica, has been speaking on her new role and her expectations for the team going into the World Cup.
According to her, she is here as the technical advisor to provide the necessary support to the team and to also build an inclusive system at the camp of the Princesses ahead of the World Cup in Costa Rica later this year.
Speaking to the GFA media, she said “My role as a technical advisor is to support head coach Ben Fokuo and the whole staff. It is about framing the best tactic because we will be playing the best opponents like the USA.”
“We need to know what the demands of the game are and so I will try to shape the defense towards it and also build relationship with the players. There are very talented players in the squad and I think it is very important to work with them to get the very best,” she added.
The Black Princesses were handed a tough as they have been drawn against the USA, Japan and the Netherlands in Group D.
The United States have won the trophy three times, making them the joint most successful country alongside Germany, while Japan are the current holders, having won the last edition in 2018 but the tactician is optimistic Ghana can make a case when the tournament begins in August.
“It is the big goal with Ghana to survive the group stage, a tough group where we are paired with the USA, Japan and the Netherlands, three of the best countries in women’s football. It is a very difficult task we need to fulfil but we are full of passion to face them and hopefully work hard to pass the group stage.”
Ghana will be making their sixth appearance, and will be hoping to put up a show as they have failed to advance past the group stage in the previous five editions.
“We will bring in the foreign players who have the talent and are playing in Europe. We need such players because they come out of leagues with good playing rhythm and we need to implement all those players and level them up to the best we can. We will need to shape the defense because we will spend a lot of time in these matches in the defense phase.
“We need to most importantly create the team of the spirit because when you want to succeed in such tournaments, you need the mindset and the team spirit which is overwhelming otherwise it is difficult to perform at such levels.”
Her contract with the Ghana FA will expire at the end of the 2022 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica.
The Black Princesses will pitch camp in Europe from July 15-30 where they will play the French national team as part of preparations for the tournament which will commence on August 10, 2022 in Costa Rica.
