Black Meteors coach, Ibrahim Tanko has admitted that his team’ s defence caused the defeat to Cote d’Ivoire in the semi-finals in the ongoing U-23 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.
The Black Meteors have conceded six goals out of four games in the tournament which prevented the team from reaching the final and has delayed qualification to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic football tournament.
Ghana lost to Cote d’Ivoire in the semi-finals on Tuesday through the penalty shootouts after the game had ended 2-2 after regulation time.
Speaking to the media on the defensive lapses of his team, Tanko said, “We have a problem in the defence as we have all seen”.
“We do not have some key players and we do not have the quality to replace them and that is the truth. We do not have the player we used in the qualifiers”.
“The players we have keep making new mistakes and these young players will have to learn from them. It is painful for them to make such mistakes at such crucial moments but it is no excuse at all.”
Ghana will battle it out with South Africa for the final ticket to the Olympic football tournament in the third-place game on Friday 22 November, 2019 at the Cairo International Stadium.