Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah believes the Black Stars achieved their target despite Tuesday’s defeat against Egypt, stressing that the Pharaohs were a good and credible opponents.

The Pharaohs produced an impressive performance on Tuesday evening but their 2-1 win fell short of qualification following Ghana’s 6-1 first-leg win in Kumasi.

“It was a difficult match to play for Ghana. A late arrival at the stadium limited our warm up and as a result we were rather slow out of the blocks,” Appiah told Cafonline.

“No matter how psyched up you may want to be, taking a commanding lead like 6-1 into a second match [as] was the case [...] plays on your mind.”

He added: “We knew the Egyptians would be in a hurry [so] we opted to slow down play and I [think] we did that well.”