16/10/2024
Head Coach of Ghana’s U-20 male national football team, Desmond Ofei, has committed to helping the Black Satellites secure a spot at the next edition of the Africa Cup of Nations (U20 AFCON 2025).
The Satellites missed out on the 2023 edition of the tourney having lifted the trophy in the preceding season.
Their draw against Niger (1-1) and Cote d’Ivoire (1-1) and a lost to Burkina Faso (2-0) could not see them advance from the group stage in Abidjan last year.
Ofei looks forward to leverage this year’s WAFU B tournament in Togo to qualify the Black Satellites for the 2025 AFCON, which will take place in Cote d’Ivoire early next year.
“As a coach in my position, I will do everything I can to prepare this team to qualify for the AFCON which is in January in Ivory Coast. It will not only mean a lot for me but for the nation as well,” he told SuperSport.
“I think we are starving a bit in terms of success. It hasn’t been easy with our U-17, our Black Princesses just came back from Colombia and couldn’t make it out from the group stage,” he added.
“It’s time for us to put the nation back on the map which Basigi did by qualifying to the World Cup and we want to do the same. What it will mean is helping my country do well on the international stage,” he concluded.
The Black Satellites will lock horns with Benin in their WAFU B opening game on Thursday, October 17 which will be followed by Niger and Togo fixtures.
Ofei’s side travelled to Europe and played preparatory games against Switzerland and Germany but lost both.
In March this year, he led the Satellites to win gold at the 2023 African Games hosted in Ghana’s national capital, Accra.
By: Maxwell Woyram Tsigbe.