Ghana will take a lot of positives from their short but worthy experience from the Africa U20 Cup of Nations in Egypt.
The Black Satellites, one of the best teams at the tournament, suffered premature elimination after a penalty shootout defeat to the hosts on Monday evening.
The four-time African champions also failed to qualify for the FIFA U20 World Cup in Chile despite not losing a game in regulation time.
The disappointing turn of events is expected to be the fuel that will drive this young team to success in the future.
The Black Satellites displayed enormous character to come from two goals down against the hosts, and later with a man down, to force the match to extra-time and penalties.
Coach Desmond Offei’s team showed that they had some fight in them, twice come from behind at the tournament in Egypt. In their opening game against the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Black Satellites secured a point after going down to an early goal.
The team’s resilience in the match against champions Senegal was characterised by strong mentality. Despite being less physical, the team had an antidote for every side they faced.
The team has the potential of maturing into one of the best on the continent, having displayed attributes of a winning team.
Offei is expected to remain in charge of the team and lead the transition of the best talents in the squad to the national team.