Former Ghana international Emmanuel Agyemang Badu has expressed his disappointment following the Black Satellites' elimination from the ongoing U-20 Africa Cup of Nations.
Ghana's campaign came to an unfortunate end on Monday afternoon when they were defeated by hosts Egypt in a penalty shootout in the quarterfinals. Despite being two goals down and a man short, the Black Satellites showed great resilience to level the score and force the match into penalties.
However, Dacosta Antwi, one of the standout performers for Ghana, missed his spot-kick, allowing Egypt to advance to the semifinals and ending Ghana’s hopes of qualifying for the World Cup.
"It's just unfortunate," Badu said in reaction to Ghana's exit. "It's really sad for Ghanaians. The entire playing body will be disappointed. The team had a very good preparation for the tournament, and we went there with a strong squad and a capable technical team led by Desmond Ofei. We were all optimistic about reaching at least the semifinals and securing a spot at the World Cup in Chile, but it didn’t happen. It's unfortunate."
With their exit at the quarterfinals, Ghana will miss out on the U-20 World Cup for the fourth consecutive time. The last time Ghana participated in the global tournament was in 2015 in New Zealand.
