"Honestly, before I entered into the national team, I mistakenly saw it to be ordinary – until I got there. I realized that you have such a big responsibility on your shoulders. Until you get in there, you will never know."

"It was a memorable day because growing up, it was my prayer that one day, I would don the colors of Ghana. It didn't matter where exactly I would find myself – just donning the colors was something I was seriously looked up to. And when you start wearing the red, gold, green, you become an ambassador for the nation."

"Keep your confidence high and be alert and you can reach any height you set your eyes on."

"You don’t need to feel you are competing with the men but rather learn from them because they started the game before us."

"There are more opportunities in the game and not just coaching but if they want to be coaches, they have to be tough and very focused because we are in a man’s world. They need to widen their knowledge space, learn and acquire more understanding about the game and I feel they can overcome any challenge that comes their way."

"My message to my female players is that, it’s never over when you stop playing football."

"Being the only female coach on the technical team it is an honour and a privilege but I also see it as a challenge to put in my best and to be the torch bearer for the female coaches in Ghana and Africa to know that we can also do it. I am going to put in my best as I’ve always done and make sure that I’m a good role model for the younger female coaches and the players as well."

"The players will play your mind and whatever you’ve impacted in them so in a way, they are playing your thoughts on the field so I feel like I’m on the pitch through the players."

"Everybody knows my commitment and when you don’t see results, it’s discouraging."

"I want to go there and do my best with the team and go as far as we can because everyone would be watching our performance and for me in particular, most Ghanaians will be interested"

"It’s a dream come true"

"For me, it’s always been an honor to wear the nation’s badge"

"There’s a lot of difference between the football operation in Ghana and Tanzania. In Ghana, there is little or no support but the story is different here. Because of how passionate they are, fans here are even able to fund a club when they are embarking on a trip, that alone is motivating enough to fight for the club"

"Personally, I’m not demotivated. We know the level of Women's football in our world. It’s getting the deserved attention now, so every opportunity should be taken. Hopefully, it gets better -- we played qualifiers not knowing what the reward will be"

"We are not under any pressure. The drip we came to Morocco with should tell you we are okay. Everyone in the team is confident [that we can succeed]. We are not only here as representatives from East Africa, we are here to compete as well to fight for the crest and give our utmost best in this tournament"

"Evelyn Badu is Evelyn Badu, I am Philomena Abakah, I'm not under any pressure to do what she did, as much as I want to do better which am sure and believe I can, her achievement is not what I look up to, I am more interested in what my team can achieve together, I can’t be what she did if Simba doesn’t go far in the tournament. The focus is the club, not individual accolades. If I get it, glory to God but there’s no pressure or competition to do what she did."

"I want to go there and do my best with the team and go as far as we can because everyone will be watching our performance, me in particular, most Ghanaians will be interested. The focus is to excel and progress in my career ambition and get the Simba family happy, they’re very supportive and I hope not to let them down"

"Initially, when I came here, I was not okay, it was a bit challenging, food and language and being in a different setting [which] is normal when you go to a new club outside your country. But as time goes on, I’ve got to understand things here and settled well"

"We are not only here as representatives from East Africa, we are here to compete as well to fight for the crest and give our outmost best in the tournament"

"Abundance of water the foolish man must be taste."

"The only foolish dog, run after the flying bird."

"The roads you pass some people have pass already."

"A river cannot flow into the forest without bringing down the trees."

"The lady, I love him, not as a sister, I love him, he is my wife, he will play number four for me. I have a goal keeper and two defenders, so he go play four."

"When I eat Banku I get more power, when I don’t eat Banku I can’t train. I don’t like drink."

"Karl Lokko, he is my former trainer, he is not my trainer, I sack him, I’m big more than him."

"A talking plenty cannot let dead man hear you."

"I am not anybody in this country, I’m the big popular, I’m the musician, I’m the comedian."

"A man can never be careful unless he buys a white shirt and a new car."

"A tsetsefly cannot listen to their teaching, is walking to the death man to go cemetery."

"A monkey learn about the mango tree, they cannot fall down."

"A dead lion is more than a dog is not dead."

"When the bush are destroyers, any animals cannot open mouth to talk."

"Bukom is my favorite food, I can’t leave Bukom. Even if I buy house in Legon I can’t leave Bukom, Bukom is my temperature."

"When a witch fly at night, something happens to the mango tree, you can ask the clouds."

"When a vulture shake their waist, it is cover their sons."

"Empty calabash cannot sink in the river."

"Woman without no man is like a river without source."

"Ghana here we don’t have managers, they will watch you one year, two years, if you call the manager switch off, I want to go America, that’s where all the fighters are."

"Anything you want if you get, there is no beggars on the road."

"I remember countless times where I played barefoot or without shin pads and was injured many times, but if you love the game, you love the game. Football is everything, it’s part of my identity nobody can take away from me."

"We need more opportunities to showcase what we can do. It’s sad to see talent go to waste because of a lack of opportunities, but the fact that there is NSW African Women's Cup shows how much the game has changed. We have many girls of African heritage who are good players. A competition like this definitely opens up opportunities for those of us who have been working really hard and that's exciting."