Black Meteors Coach Ibrahim Tanko Broods Over Team’s Defensive Weakness

Head coach for the Black Meteors of Ghana, Ibrahim Tanko has identified the defensive set up of his team as its weakness as he broods over the unavailability of key players he used during the qualifiers to the CAF U-23 Africa Cup of Nation (AFCON) tournament.

The West African country has faced a defensive crisis since the start of the ongoing continental showpiece in Egypt and has unsurprisingly conceded as many as 6 goals in 4 matches.

The defensive of the Ghana team let in 3 goals when they faced host nation Egypt in their second group game of the tournament and also conceded twice against Cote d'Ivoire in the semi-final clash just yesterday.

Speaking in a post-match interview after failing to progress to the finals of the U-23 AFCON, Coach for the Black Meteors Ibrahim Tanko admits his team has a defensive problem.

“We have a problem in the defense as we have all seen. We do not have some key players and we do not have the quality to replace them and that is the truth. We do not have the player we used in the qualifiers”, the gaffer observed after the lost to Cote d’Ivoire game.

He added, “The players we have keep making new mistakes and these young players will have to learn from them. It is painful for them to make such mistakes at such crucial moments but it is no excuse at all”.

Ghana has set up a date with South Africa in the third-place match this Friday and will be hoping their defensive set up stands strong to help them win to have a chance of securing qualification to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.