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Ghana’s qualification to the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) was delayed following a 1-0 defeat at the hands of the Sudanese.
The Black Stars defeated the Secretarybirds 2-0 in Cape Coast last week but failed to repeat the feat in the reverse fixture in Omdurman on Tuesday.
The team laboured to create chances throughout the 90 minutes, with Mohamed Abdul Rahman striking the killer blow at the death.
READ ALSO: AFCON Qualifiers: Black Stars suffer last-minute defeat against Sudan
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Ghana vs Sudan
Reacting to the defeat, Akonnor conceded that the Sudanese players were hungrier than his players but said they’ll learn from the defeat.
“The Sudanese players were hungrier than us,” the Black Stars coach said in his post-game press conference.
“We will learn from the mistakes we did today and we’ll do well against South Africa and São Tomé and qualify.”
Ghana remains top of Group C in the 2021 AFCON qualifiers, but the team is now level on nine points with South Africa.
Meanwhile, Sudan directly follows both teams in the group with six points after recording an important victory against Ghana.
Akonnor, however, expressed confidence that Ghana will seal qualification to the tournament in Cameroon.
He assured that his team will deliver a much-improved performance against South Africa and Sao Tome and Principe in their next two group games.
“I hope that before we assemble again in March, the Covid-19 situation will be much better and we will know how to take care of ourselves,” he said.
“We will be able to have more players in camp and on time, we will prepare adequately and I can assure you that we will qualify.
“We will do well against South Africa and Sao Tome and then we will qualify for the AFCON.”
Akonnor added: “I can assure that we will definitely qualify, but of course we have to do a bit of work, we will not qualify verbally, we have to work hard to get there and I am certain that we will qualify.”
The AFCON qualifiers will return in March next year, with the tournament rescheduled to take place in 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.