Wafu Cup Final 2019: Ghana's effort not good enough to win -Maxwell Konadu

The Black Stars boss reflects on Sunday's final in the regional tournament, which they lost after a penalty shootout.

Ghana coach Maxwell Konadu has shed light on their final defeat to hosts Senegal in the Wafu Cup of Nations on Sunday.

The home-based Black Stars could not successfully defend their trophy won on home soil in 2017, falling 3-1 in a penalty shoot-out after the match ended 1-1 in extra-time.

It was indeed a dramatic extra period after a barren 90 minutes as Joseph Esso drew Ghana level shortly after Youssouph Mamadou Badji opened the scoring for the hosts.

"The match wasn't bad, it was a tough and very tactical match which was very good," Konadu said in his post-match interview.

"The level was very high. We knew the Senegalese have a young and talented team.

"We also have good squad and we knew the match was going to be difficult.

"Initially we sat back to soak the pressure and tried to play on counter-attacks but it couldn't work. Black Stars' effort was not good enough to win the game.

"Tactically, we did everything right. We were able to neutralise our opponent's offensive players - that help my team a lot."

Despite the 2019 defeat, Ghana remain the most successful team in the history of the Wafu Cup with two titles.

The tournament is contested by representative teams of the West African Football Union (Wafu).