Jimmy Cobblah blames Niger debacle on absence of local football

Ghana were knocked out of the ongoing Africa U-20 Cup of Nations in Niger on Saturday after losing their final group game to Mali 1-0.

The Black Satellites will also not be participating in the U20 Fifa World Cup scheduled for June this year.

Coach Jimmy Cobblah, who is currently facing criticisms in Ghana for the debacle, claims that the absence of football activities in the country played a huge role in his selection.

“It affected us. We should have used most of the local boys because if you look at the competition most of the teams are using their local boys,” Cobblah said.

“However, because our local-based players are not fit due to the absence of competition in our country, we had to rely on foreign-based players who are young boys in Europe.

“They couldn’t come early and we had no choice than to organise and bring them to Niger.”

Ghana won their first match 2-0 against Burkina Faso before losing the second to Senegal 2-0.

The Satellites last played at the U20 World Cup in 2015.