Black Satellites head coach Karim Zito has attributed his team's defeat to Nigeria to bad weather.
Ghana made a nightmare start to the defence of their WAFU U-20 Zone B Championship title on Sunday by losing 2-0 to rivals Nigeria.
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Speaking at the post match press conference, Karim Zito stated that his side struggled to adapt to the hot weather conditions in Niamey and the game will help his team prepare adequately for the next group match.
"There were some factors that affected us, one of them is the weather," he said.
"Look at the atmosphere here, what is happening here and in Ghana, here it is hell. That is why I commended Nigeria by coming early and playing some friendly matches."
"For you to acquire the necessary energy you need to do what you have to do, so we will use the Nigerian game to prepare ourselves for our next game against Burkina Faso. We are going to use the next match to make amendments."
"Before coming to Niger in Ghana we all so the players they were very mobile but they couldn't run here which was down to the issue of the climate because there are factors that affect performance and one of them is the weather."
Zito, who led Ghana to win the 2020 WAFU Zone B tournament in Benin, will hope to bounce back when they take on Burkina Faso in their next Group B game on Saturday, May 14.
Two teams will advance into the semi-finals from each group, with the two finalists qualifying to represent the WAFU Zone B at the 2023 U-20 AFCON in Egypt.
The 2023 U-20 AFCON will serve as the qualifiers for the FIFA U-20 World Cup billed for Indonesia also to hold next year.
All four semi-finalists from the tournament in Egypt will qualify to represent Africa in Indonesia.