According to him, it was common for big teams to fall in their opening games but promised that even though they lost to a less-fancied side, they were not out of the competition.

Speaking after his team's loss in their opening Group C match, the veteran coach said he was disappointed in his players for the costly mistakes they made on the pitch despite preparing very well for the game.

“Such things happen in football. It happens in competitions that big teams lose their opening games. We may have lost but we are certainly not out of the competition.

“I think my boys disappointed me in the first half and I take it as one of those things that happen in football. We were well prepared for this game but minor mistakes cost us the game," he said.

The Ghana gaffer gave credit to the Malagasies for their spirited performance and tactical discipline but believed the Black Galaxies could have done better.

He promised to make amends in the second game against The Sudan on Thursday.

“Madagascar played well in the first half but we also did not have our usual rhythm. Apart from that, I did not see anything different from them.

"They possessed the ball quite well but I believe we could have done better ourselves and these are the things we will need to look at and remedy ahead of our next match on Thursday," Coach Walker noted.

“I still need to analyse the game and make a proper judgement on where exactly we went wrong and how it could be fixed."