Ghana coach Paa Kwesi Fabin has explained the main reason his team lost to the Golden Eaglets of Nigeria in their opening Group A game at the WAFU B U-17 tournament.

The Black Starlets lost 4-2 to the Eaglets inside the Cape Coast Stadium in the opening game of the regional tournament.

Fabin was forced to form a new team just two weeks before the tournament because 20 of the 28 players he assembled failed an MRI test.

Fabin’s new team were humbled by Nigeria, putting them in a difficult position to advance to the next stage of the competition.

“I don’t like to make excuses but about three weeks to the tournament the FA President [Kurt Okraku] asked the CAF medical team to do an MRI of our boys so out of 28, 20 were disqualified so, so we had to use about 2 and half weeks to build this team, we lost but I believe we’ll come back stronger,” Fabin was quoted on ghanasoccernet.com.

Ghana must win their final game against Togo to stand a chance of progressing from the group.

The WAFU B tournament is the qualifiers for the 2023 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations in Algeria.

Also, the U-17 AFCON will serve as qualifier for next year’s FIFA World Cup holding in Peru.