Ghana’s Under-23 football team – Black Meteors, were on Saturday bundled out of the 2023 TotalEnergies Under-23 Africa Cup of Nations Tournament after finishing third in Group A.
The white-bread-performing Ghanaians drew 1-1 with Guinea in the final group match to amass four points – woefully inadequate to power them through to the next stage.
Ghana needed to beat Guinea to secure a semi-final ticket – and thus qualify alongside Morocco who finished the group stage with a 100 per cent record – amassing nine points.
Though the Meteors, who beat Congo 3-2 in the opener, and the Guineans were three points apiece heading into Saturday’s sub-standard nerve-jangler, the Ghanaians were at a huge disadvantage in goals build-up – following their 1-5 thrashing by the Moroccans in their second group game.
What it means was that only victory could salvage the Meteors’ sinking ship.
Emmanuel ’99 Ideas’ Yeboah’s first goal on the half-hour mark was a booster – and took the Ghanaians into a frazzled break.
The Guineans, however, fought back fiercely to draw parity in the second half and managed to hold on for a draw that qualified them to the next stage.
Speaking at the post match press conference Coach Ibrahim Tanko expressed huge disappointment at the team’s early exit from the competition.
“We disappointed Ghanaians and ourselves. We thought we will go far in this competition, but this is what happened.
“It’s a very painful pill to take. After leading at half-time and come back to concede such a goal is so bitter. But that is football. We prepared to win but in the end we got a draw which wasn’t enough to take us into the semi-finals,” Coach Tanko stated.
The Head Coach further said that the technical team would assess the team’s performance at the tournament.
“We have to analyse the games we played and there’s a lot we could do better,” he added.
Morocco are expected to face Mali who beat Niger 2-0 while Guinea cross swords with defending champions Egypt in the semis.
The finalists and third-place play-off winner will qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympic men’s football tournament in Paris next year, while the fourth-placed team is expected to play the AFC–CAF play-off to decide the final Olympic slot.
BY JOHN VIGAH
