Head coach of the Black Satellites Jimmy Cobblah has ascribed their exit from the ongoing CAF U20 Africa Championship to poor preparation.

The Black Satellites needed at least a draw in the final game of the group to automatically grab a place in the 2019 U20 FIFA World Cup in Poland after accruing three points from their opening two games.

But the one-time world champions slipped to a 1-0 defeat to Mali to crash out of the competition.

However, coach Cobblah, whose outfit were camped for almost six months and played close to 30 friendly games, believes his outfit suffered in the tournament due to lack of adequate preparations ahead of the competition.

“Preparation is very important in such a tournament, and we didn’t have enough preparation,” Jimmy said after the defeat to Mali.

“Competition is very key and as you all know there is no football in our country,” he added.