WAFU U-17 Zone B Qualifiers: Coach Karim Zito not blaming players after defeat to Nigeria
Black Starlets coach Karim Zito has refused to apportion blame to his lads after they were defeated by Nigeria on penalties in the final of the WAFU Zone B final on Saturday.
Ghana were dreadful in the penalty shootouts as they lost 3-1 to their West African neighbours after the game had ended 1-1 in regulation time.
This means Nigeria have won the WAFU Zone B tournament and also qualified to next year’s Africa Junior Championships in Tanzania next year.
Black Starlets looked primed to win the qualifying tournament in Niger when they took the lead in the 54thminute.
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 failed to blame the players and believes mistakes are part and parcel of the game.
“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.