Ghana coach speaks after Burkina Faso defeat

Ghana coach Paa Kwesi Fabin blamed his team’s painful defeat to Burkina Faso on the referee’s penalty decision, which he sarcastically described as “wonderful.”

Fabin believes it was not a penalty, and it cost them a spot in the final of the WAFU Zone B U-17 tournament.

Ousmane Camara’s converted the contentious penalty to secure a 1-0 victory for Burkina Faso at the Cape Coast Stadium.

“In the first half, they veered a little bit from the instructions they were given but in the second half they came back and played better only for some wonderful penalty to be taken against us,” Fabin said at the post-match presser.

Burkina Faso set up a final meeting with Nigeria, who defeated Ivory Coast 3-1 earlier in the day.

The defeat means Ghana failed to qualify for the 2023 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations tournament.

Ghana have now failed to qualify for the U-17 AFCON for the second time in a row, after failing in 2019.

Burkina Faso and Nigeria will represent the WAFU Zone B at next year’s youth championship in Algeria.