The Head Coach of Ghana’s national U-20 male football team, Black Satellites, Karim Zito has attributed Ghana’s defeat to Nigeria in the WAFU Zone B U-20 qualifiers to poor weather conditions.
The Black Satellites lost 2-0 to the Flying Eagles of Nigeria at the Stade Général Seyni Kountche on Sunday in the ongoing WAFU Zone B U-20 qualifiers in Niger.
According to Zito, Ghana paid dearly for the late arrival at the tournament.
He said the team arrived late and was not able to play any friendly match to get acclimatized to the weather.
The Nigerians, he said adapted well because they arrived early and engaged in some preparatory games to acclimatize.
“Our brothers (Nigeria) came here early and played some friendly matches to prepare. That notwithstanding, we were beaten by a good Nigerian side. They did well, we also had opportunities to score but did not. We’ll work very hard to bounce back in our subsequent games.”
Zito assured Ghanaians of a turnaround in their next game and said “Football is always about having an opportunity to make amends. So I’m not downhearted. This is not the end; it is the first and we still have another match to play. We’ll do our best to win and join them to qualify” he added.
The Black Satellites begun their WAFU Zone B title defence poorly after goals from Ibrahim Muhammad and Ahmed Abudullahi gave the Flying Eagles their first win of the competition.
The Black Satellites will be at the battlefield once again on Saturday at the Stade Général Seyni Kountche when they face Burkina Faso in the last group game.
A convincing victory for Ghana with goals would give the defending champions a breather, depending on the outcome of Nigeria and Burkina Faso clash.
The two finalists from the tournament will represent WAFU Zone B at the 2023 CAF U-20 t ournament which will take place in Egypt from February 18 – March 12, 2023.
BY LINUS SIAW NARTEY