Coach Ibrahim Tanko is determined to move forward and shift the focus to the Black Meteors’ final group match against Guinea after their defeat against Morocco on Tuesday.
Ghana suffered a comprehensive 5-1 loss to the tournament hosts, Morocco, in their second match of the TotalEnergies U23 Africa Cup of Nations at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium.
With the result, both Ghana and Guinea find themselves on three points alongside the hosts, who currently lead the group.
Coach Tanko acknowledged that Morocco had the advantage of an extra day of rest, which played a role in their victory.
“It’s a deserved win for Morocco but we had a day rest and they had two days of rest. The players showed fatigue”.
“We showed them a lot of respect and they punished us for that.”
However, Tanko remains optimistic about Ghana’s chances to qualify and emphasized the need to secure a victory against Guinea.
“We still have a chance to qualify and we will work on it and try to get a win against Guinea”.
Tanko attributed his team’s below-par performance to the lack of rest after their match against Congo on Sunday.
Both Ghana and Congo suffered heavy defeats in their respective matches against opponents who had an extra day of rest, following matches played on Saturday.
“You saw how Congo also suffered same fate because Guinea had an extra day to rest”
“Now we have two days before we play our next match and we will make good use of it”.
“Both of Ghana and Guinea stand a chance of making it to the next stage so both teams will prepare well for the game. Definitely we want to win and qualify to the next stage”, the Black Meteors Head Coach stated at the post match press conference.
The Black Meteors will be leaving Rabat to head to Tangier, where they will play their third group A match against Guinea.
