Despite losing to Nigeria’s Flying Eagles, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has described the country’s U-20 men’s team Black Satellites’ performance at the WAFU B tournament as gallant.
In Wednesday’s final in Lome, Togo, the Black Satellites fell to a 2-1 defeat to the Flying Eagles who retained the trophy they won in 2022.
First half brace from Kparobo Arierhi saw the Flying Eagles take a 2-0 lead into the break.
But in the 74th minute Jerry Afriyie pulled a goal back for the Black Satellites, which was only a consolation goal as the Flying Eagles held on to emerge champions.
Reacting to the defeat, the GFA wrote on X:”Gallant Black Satellites fall short with a 2-1 loss to Nigeria in the final of the 2024 WAFU B U-20 Championship in Togo. Both teams advance to next year’s U-20 Africa Cup of Nations!
“The 2025 U-20 AFCON will also serve as the African qualifiers for the 2025 FIFA U20 World Cup in Chile, where the four semi-finalists will qualify automatically.”
The Flying Eagles finished top of Group B at the WAFU B tournament despite losing their opening game to Burkina Faso.
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The coach Aliyu Suberu-led team bounced back from the 1-0 loss to the Burkinabes by defeating Cote d’Ivoire 2-1 in their second group game.
They then went on to beat Niger Republic in the semi-finals to seal the final ticket and also a place at next year’s U-20 AFCON.
On their part, Ghana topped Group A and faced Cote d’Ivoire in the semi-finals and secured a 2-1 win.
Nigeria’s Flying Eagles have won the U-20 AFCON seven times, the most by any country.
The last time the team were crowned U-20 AFCON champions was at the 2015 edition.
For Ghana, they have won the tournament four times (Egypt also has won the tournament four times).
Also, the Ghanaian team last won the U-20 AFCON in 2021.
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