The Ghana U-20 side, the Black Satellites have qualified to the semi finals of the 2020 U-20 WAFU zone B tournament which is ongoing in Benin, despite losing by 1-0 to Ivory Coast in the last group game on Saturday.
Ghana started the tournament on positive note with a marginal 1-0 victory over rivals Nigeria on Wednesday, and that victory has been enough to push coach Karim Zito’s side to the next stage of the competition.
Before the game against Ivory Coast on Saturday, Ghana had already qualified to the semi finals of the competition following their 1-0 win over Nigeria on Wednesday, and as such, coach Karim Zito made five changes to the starting eleven that played against Nigeria in his squad against Ivory Coast.
Ivory Coast needed at least a draw to make a second-round appearance after drawing 0-0 with Nigeria in their opening Group B game in Porto-Novo- Benin.
The Black Satellites were in charge of the game till the 60th minute in the second half, when Issouf Dosso converted a free kick which had been won by Fofana Datro, who had tormented the Ghanaian defence throughout the game.
Satellites made efforts to equalise but to no avail, given their West African counterparts a crucial three points in addition to their one point gained from their 0-0 draw against Nigeria. Ivory Coast top the group with 4 points followed by Ghana with 3 points as Nigeria exit the tournament with just a point.
The Black Satellites will now face Niger in the semi-finals.