Ghana coach Evans Adotey says blunders from goalkeeper Grace Banwa Buoadu amounted to their elimination from the 2018 Fifa Women's U-17 World Cup in Uruguay on Sunday.
The Black Maidens shared the spoils 2-2 with Mexico in the quarterfinals within regulations time but lost 4-2 on penalties to the South Americans.
Mukarama Abdulai gave Ghana the lead by the 46th minute -- her seventh goal of the tournament -- after she met a cross from Mavis Owusu before Nicole Perez equalised from the spot for Mexico on the hour mark.
Substitute Susan Teye restored Ghana's lead on 75th minute but a goalkeeping howler from Boadu late in the game helped Perez to score her second goal of the day, which dragged the encounter into penalty shootouts. Justice Tweneboah and Elizabeth Oppong missed their kicks for Ghana.
"We played very well in this game and in the tournament as a whole but our goalkeeper let us down," Adotey said.
"We scored first and they had the equaliser, we came again and took the lead. Instead of having the composure and concentrate on the game, I didn't know what actually happened.
"Look at the foul and goal we conceded, how wiill I even describe it? The goalkeeper let us down at the crucial stage," he added.
Ghana's elimination means that there will be no African representatives at the semis since South Africa and Cameroon were booted out in the group stage.
Article continues below
-min.png?auto=webp&format=pjpg&width=640&quality=60)