ACCRA, July 9 (Xinhua) -- Ghana's hopes of ending its 37-year Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) trophy drought was dashed after the Black Stars lost 5-4 on penalties to Tunisia in the round of 16 on Monday night.
"Like most Ghanaians, I am gutted by the exit of the Black Stars at AFCON 2019," Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo tweeted on Tuesday.
"I wish the team better luck next time. I am confident that they will bounce back even stronger, and make all of us proud once again," he said.
Tunisia took the lead in the 73rd minute before Ghana equalized in the 90th minute to send the game into extra time after 90 minutes.
Both teams failed to score in extra time with the game moving into penalty shoot-outs.
Ghana, however, missed one kick while Tunisia converted all five kicks to seal a quarterfinal berth.
The Ghanaian players were crestfallen after the game. But back home, many Ghanaian soccer fans expressed outrage and disappointment over the loss, with some calling for the stepdown of the head coach Kwesi Appiah.
Sports programs on local radio stations have been inundated with fans expressing divergent opinions about the performance of the team which most described as sloppy and abysmal.
Ghana Captain Andre Ayew has admitted his side has disappointed the supporters and has taken full responsibility the team's early exit.
"I am very sad and disappointed that we could not get to the next stage but we need to take heart and be stronger. The entire team gave everything but it did not go our way,' he said after the match.
"If we have been kicked out at this stage it means we had a bad tournament and since we couldn't achieve the mission we came here for, I will say we failed," he said.
Ghana were AFCON champions in 1963, 1965, 1978 and 1982, and runners-up in 1992, 2010 and 2015. Enditem
