Karim Zito not blaming players after painful defeat to Nigeria

Ghana U17 coach Karim Zito has refused to blame his players over the WAFU Zone B final defeat to Nigeria on Saturday.

The Black Starlets were dreadful in the penalty shootouts as they lost 3-1 to their arch rivals after the game had ended 1-1 in regulation time.

This defeat sees Nigeria win the WAFU Zone B tournament and also qualifies them to next year’s Africa Junior Championships in Tanzania at the expense of Ghana.

Zito’s charges looked primed to win the qualifying tournament in Niger when they took the lead in the 54th minute.

But Nigeria equalized within 10 minutes of Ghana taking the lead to ultimately take the game into a penalty shootout which Ghana subsequently lost.

Coach Zito has refused to apportion blame – in particular the way the team conceded after going up – to his players.

“No. My boys weren’t tactically indisciplined,” a clearly disappointed Zito said after the game.

“They played, we played. You make a mistake and they score you.

“We made a mistake and then they scored. Without mistakes, goals will never be scored.”

Ghana will not be involved at the 2019 Africa Junior Championships by virtue of this defeat.

This also means the Black Starlets will not be at the World Cup.