(Players of Algeria national team in a training session.)

Algeria women's national team are intensifying training at the Sidi Moussa National Technical Center, ahead of the upcoming Africa Women Cup of Nations in Ghana. 

21 local based players are already in camp under the guidance of 44-year old former captain Radia Fertoul who was appointed head coach after Azzedine Chich resigned despite qualifying the Ladies Fennecs for their fifth AWCON participation.

The main objective set by the Algerian Football Federation is to qualify from the group stage of the competition and secure a place at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France.

"I have a past with the national team, I was a player and assistant coach. I know the girls very well and there is a good mood with them. We will do our best to get past of the first round and we are going to take all our chances'', Fertoul told a press conference on Wednesday.     
                                       
(Coach Fertoul in the middle, speaking at the press conference)

The team was boosted with the arrival of French-born and Olympique de Marseille striker Morgan Belkhiter. The 22-year-old decided to represent Algeria at this year's AWCON after been contacted by Fertoul.

(Morgan Belkhiter)

The camp will be swelled in numbers when the foreign professionals joins the team this week before the final 21-members squad for the tournament is released on Sunday, November 4.

The Ladies Fennecs are scheduled to travel to Abidjan on Sunday, where they will face Côte d'Ivoire women's team in a two-legged friendly for their last and final phase preparations towards the continental event.

Prior to their preparation, the Algerian ladies faced Atlas Lionesses twice in test games last month, losing 3-1 in the first leg before claiming a 1-0 win in the return fixture, thanks to Djamila Marek's strike.

(Fennecs Ladies team before their friendly with Atlas Lionesses)

Algeria qualified for the 2018 AWCON after edging out Senegal 3-2 on aggregate in the first round qualifiers and then thrashed Ethiopia 6-3 home and away in the final stage.

Placed in group A of the African Women's Championships, Fertoul and her girls will be facing familiar opponents, having been drawn with Ghana, Mali and Cameroon.

The Ladies fennecs have had the scalp of Black Queens of Ghana with whom they will be facing in the opening game of the competition. In 2014 in Namibia, Houria Affak's late 88th minute goal earned a 1-0 victory over the Ghanaians, in what was the biggest surprise of the showpiece.

Their next game then was a 2-0 defeat to Cameroon's Indomitable Lionesses, a team they have met four times in the past, with the Lionesses having the upper hand in the previous matches.

The last group stage game will be an opposition in Mali. The two sides were billed to play friendly in February but it was cancelled. This year's meeting will be a repeat of the two games in February 2016 in Bamako where Algeria snatched an impressive 5-0 win over the Eagles after drawing 2-2 in the first game.

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