Ghana will have no representatives at this year's CAF inter-club competitions after Hearts of Oak were dumped out of CAF Confederation Cup qualifiers despite beating AS Real Bamako 1-0 at the Accra Sports Stadium on Sunday.
The Phobians needed to overturn a three goal deficit from the first leg in Mali but struggled to find the back of the net, until the 89th when Caleb Amankwah scored the game’s only goal.
The goal was not enough for Hearts as they exited the competition after losing 3-1 on aggregate.
Hearts struggled to break down the Bamako defense, and it took until the 45th minute for the Phobians to get their first shot on target via Konadu Yiadom.
After the recess, assistant coach, David Ocloo made changes, bringing on Obeng Junior, Seidu Salifu and Mohamed Alhassaan, in an attempt to get a goal.
However the Malians remained compact at the back for most of the second half until Amankwah’s goal.
Bamako will move to the final play-off round where they will face one of the 16 losers from the CAF Champions League second round.
Hearts of Oak were Ghana’s sole representative in Africa following Asante Kotoko’s early exit from the CAF Champions League.