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The Black Satellites found the young elephants too strong in their last group match at the subregional championship.
Ghana has ended its group stage campaign at the current Wafu B Nations Cup in Benin with a 1-0 loss to Côte d’Ivoire, but will continue to advance to the next round of the competition thanks to the 1-0 victory. over Nigeria on the final matchday. .
Kouadio N’Guessan’s free-kick in the second half was the deciding factor at the Stade de Gaules in Porto Novo on Saturday.
The Black Satellites finally finished second in a group of three teams, setting a semi-final date with Niger.
The 2009 world champions had already booked qualification for the next round of the championship before Saturday’s final group match, having accumulated three vital points in their opening match against arch-rival Nigeria.
Ghana coach Abdul Karim Zito made five changes to his starting lineup for Saturday’s game, adding Alhassan Uzair, Ivon Anokye, Huda Issah, Emmanuel Agyemang Duah and Abanga Sumaila, who took the place of suspended leading forward Precious Boah .
In the end, it was N’Guessan’s free-kick that turned out to be the biggest factor, as his team finished atop Group B to set up a meeting with Burkina Faso in the semi-final.
The Wafu B Championship serves as qualifiers for the 2021 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations, with the two finalists in Benin securing participation tickets for the continental match in Mauritania.
The African event will in turn serve as a qualifier for the 2020 Fifa U20 World Cup in Indonesia, the four semi-finalists are set to represent the continent at the world meeting.
Ghana has set its sights on going all the way to play the World Cup for the first time since 2015, when it reached the round of 16 in New Zealand.
In 2017, the Black Satellites did not qualify for the African champion, while in 2019 they fell short in the group stage of the continental meeting, failing to choose one of the four qualifying tickets available for the World Cup.
Zito’s team is a three-time Afcon U20 champion, winning the cup in 1993, 1999 and 2009, where he came to rule the world.
