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Ghana U23 coach Samuel Fabin has explained why his side suffered a humiliating 10-0 aggregate loss to Japan in the international friendlies played on Saturday and Tuesday.

An under-strength Japanese Blue Samurai side punished Ghana’s Black Meteors 4-0 on Tuesday morning to complete a riotous 10-0 aggregate victory over two legs for the Asian giants.

Ghana presented players from Asante Kotoko, Hearts of Oak, Accra Great Olympics, Dreams FC, Legon Cities, Getafe, Genk, Schalke 04 and English side Colchester United.

So far only Hearts of Oak blocked their players from travelling with the team to Japan. Hearts didn’t allow Salifu Ibrahim and Daniel Afriyie Barnie to travel for the games. It must be emphasized that Salifu Ibrahim wasn’t originally included in the squad announced by the coach and he was only invited after Hearts fans piled pressure on the coach.

Despite this Fabin claims he didn’t get access to his top players from the Ghana Premier League.

“Many players who participated in the U-20 Africa Championship, but unfortunately the top players at this time could not come to Japan this time. The top players (in the U-20 generation) remained in the domestic league, so they haven’t come to Japan,” he told the Japanese press.

Apart from Hearts of Oak there is not any known Ghanaian club that refused to allow its players to travel with the Ghana U23 squad for the games in Japan.

No other club prevented their players from travelling with the Ghana squad for the game. Asante Kotoko released their regular left-back Imoro Ibrahim to the team while Dreams FC allowed attacker Precious Boah to join the squad. Karela United star striker Diawisie Taylor, Samuel Abbey-Ashie Quaye of Great Olympics, as well as Jonah Attuquaye of Legon Cities were all released to join the team.

But, a Japanese side featuring Real Madrid’s Takefusa Kubo dismantled the Ghana side 6-0 on Saturday morning in Fukuoka before topping it up with 4 more goals without Ghana scoring a goal.