2026 WAFU B U-20 Championship: I am proud of my players - Maxwell Konadu after Ghana's draw with Burkina Faso

Black Satellites head coach Maxwell Konadu has praised his players for their resilience and fighting spirit after Ghana battled to a 1-1 draw against Burkina Faso in the 2026 WAFU B U-20 Championship.

Ghana entered the encounter under pressure following a disappointing opening defeat to Nigeria, knowing that a positive result was crucial to keeping their hopes of progressing to the next stage of the competition alive.

Despite falling behind, the Black Satellites responded strongly, with Joseph Badu scoring a first-half equaliser to earn Ghana a valuable point.

Although Konadu was disappointed that his team could not secure all three points, the experienced coach expressed his pride in the players’ determination and commitment, especially after playing with ten men for a large part of the match.

"I'm proud of the boys. Even though we couldn't win, we'll keep fighting. We'll try to beat Togo and then see what happens in the Nigeria-Burkina Faso game," Konadu said.

"We believed we could beat Burkina Faso and we created so many chances. Sometimes that's football - you just have to accept it and move on. The boys did so well, even with one man down."

The former Asante Kotoko trainer also acknowledged the strength of the Burkinabe side but insisted that Ghana controlled proceedings for long periods and deserved credit for their performance.

"Burkina Faso are not a bad team. They won 3-1 in their first match, but today they couldn't really come to the party. I thought we controlled most of the game," he added.

The Black Satellites will now turn their attention to their final Group B fixture against Togo on Sunday, where they must secure a positive result to boost their chances of advancing to the knockout stage.