Coach of Black Stars B Maxwell Konadu has averred that they will have to toil if they have any chances of clinching the WAFU 2019 tournament.
Ghana are on a mission to retain the title claimed on home soil, having reached the last four of this year's championship. They beat Burkina Faso 5-4 on penalties in the quarter-final to set up a semi-final date with Cote d'Ivoire on Wednesday.
"It will be difficult [to lift the trophy in Senegal] even though we won the title two years ago," Konadu said as reported by Footyghana.
"This one [tournament] is more difficult.
“Football in Africa is growing year after year.
"Our first match we won 1-0, [and the ] second match 1-1. It tells you how difficult it is.â€
Ghana began their title defence with a 1-0 victory over the Gambia last Tuesday courtesy a strike from Hearts of Oak marksman Joseph Esso to pummels the team to the quarterfinals.
Meeting Burkina Faso in the quarterfinal last Friday, the Black Stars edge the Black Stallions 5-4 on penalties after 1-1 draw in regulation time to secure a berth semi-final berth.
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Early dominance from the Black Stars B was thwarted by their counterpart from Burkina Faso when Ilina Teindrebeogo found the back of the net to give his side the lead after 3 minutes of play.Â
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Coach Maxwell Konadu urged on his lads from the touchline with some instructions that didn’t yield any fruits until the 37th minute. The Black Stars B finally made their efforts count by pulling parity through Shafiu Mumuni who headed home a sweet cross from his strike partner Joseph Esso.
The second half provided similar action from the first 45 minutes but some pieces of good defending from the Burkinabe’s prevented a well-oiled Ghanaian side from getting on the scoresheet again.