Paa Kwesi Fabin, Ghana’s coach, has explained why his team lost to Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets in their first Group A game at the WAFU B U-17 tournament.
The Black Starlets were defeated 4-2 by the Eaglets in the regional tournament opener at Cape Coast Stadium.
Because 20 of the 28 players Fabin assembled failed an MRI test just two weeks before the tournament, he was forced to form a new team.
Nigeria humbled Fabin’s new team, putting them in a difficult position to progress to the next round of the competition.
“I don’t like to make excuses but about three weeks to the tournament the FA President [Kurt Okraku] asked the CAF medical team to do an MRI of our boys so out of 28, 20 were disqualified so, so we had to use about 2 and half weeks to build this team, we lost but I believe we’ll come back stronger,” Fabin was quoted on ghanasoccernet.com.
Ghana must win their final game against Togo in order to advance from the group.
The WAFU B tournament is a qualifier for the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations, which will be held in Algeria in 2023.
The U-17 AFCON will also serve as a qualifier for the FIFA World Cup, which will be held in Peru next year.
