WAFU B U17: Ghana captain apologises after Ivory Coast defeat ends AFCON hopes

GhanaSoccernet · 10/23/2026, 12:00:17 PM

Black Starlets captain Issah Abdul Rafiu has apologised to Ghanaians after Ghana’s hopes of reaching the 2027 U17 Africa Cup of Nations were ended by a 1-0 semi-final defeat by Ivory Coast at the 2026 WAFU Zone B U17 Championship.Ghana had been targeting a place at the continental tournament in Morocco, but their campaign came to an end after a closely contested match in which they played for most of the game with 10 men.Issah said he understood the disappointment caused by the result, particularly after Ghana had made an encouraging start to the competition. He was speaking before Friday’s third-place play-off against hosts Burkina Faso.The captain asked supporters to forgive the team and said the players were determined to respond by securing the bronze medal.“First of all, we want to send our apologies to Ghanaians for failing to qualify for the AFCON. But we want to assure them that we will show up tomorrow and win the bronze medal to show we were down by a man that’s why we lost to Ivory Coast.”Ghana’s semi-final challenge was disrupted in the 17th minute when defender Daniel Owusu was shown a straight red card. The dismissal...