Maxwell Konadu
Black Stars B head trainer, Maxwell Konadu, has admitted that his team produced a below average performance when they crossed swords with Senegal last Sunday.
Ghana failed to defend the title in the final of this year’s ESPN West Africa Football Union (WAFU) Cup of Nations, after losing 1-3 on penalties to the host, after the match ended 1-1 after extra time.
Appiah McCarthy was the only player to find the target for Ghana as Augustine Okrah, Fatawu Mohammed and Justic Blay all missed their kicks.
Konadu, who guided Ghana to lift the trophy when Ghana hosted it in 2017, in a post-match interview admitted that they could not compete well enough to defend the crown.
He said “Though we played our best, it was not enough to win the cup. We did not disgrace ourselves and I think the boys did their best. I am happy with their performance. I think that losing the finals on penalties was not too bad. They scored and we fought back. We thought we could win the game and we brought on the players we believed could score and put away the penalties as well but that could not happen. It is unfortunate that our kicks were not good today.”
It was Shafiu Mumuni, who emerged as the tournament’s top scorer, with four goals to receive the Golden Shoe.
Ghana remains the most successful team in the history of the WAFU Cup with two trophies.
The team arrived home from the competition yesterday.
By Kofi Owusu Aduonum