Black Meteors defender, David Oppong Afrane has opened up on why the Ghana U23 national team failed to impress at the CAF U23 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament.

According to him, the Black Meteors exited the tournament early because of poor preparations and hard luck.

“Our exit for me was caused by poor preparations and hard luck. During the qualifiers, most of the players were local based ones but during the tournament we were joined by many foreign players which affected team bonding and chemistry.

“Again, luck wasn't on our side, I don't agree that the countries in our group had more quality than us. Things just didn't go well as planned,” David Oppong Afrane said in an interview with Akoma FM.

The Black Meteors defender continued “All of us were very patriotic and dedicated, so I don't know where the complaint that we didn't have the nation at heart during the tournament is coming from. Serving your nation is an honour and we really appreciate that opportunity.”

Ghana at the U23 AFCON exited at the end of the group stage.

At the tournament in Morocco, the Black Meteors drew two games and lost against the host nation.