It is painful to lose this way: Avant Grant

Ghana coach Avram Grant feels broken after yet another penalty heartbreak as his Black Stars side lost out on the 2015 Afcon trophy to Ivory Coast on Sunday.
New African champions Ivory Coast edged the Black Stars 9-8 in a thrilling penalty shootout after both sides failed to outscore each other in regulation time but the pain-in-heart tactician remains proud of the achievement of his less-fancied team.
“I feel painful to lose like this – to lead 2-0 on penalties and then to lose and to be the better side on the pitch,” the 60-year-old manager told SuperSport.
“But I can say I’m very proud of what we achieved during the tournament. We scored the highest number of goals, conceded the least goals. We did a good performance and even today, we were the better side against a very good team and even in penalties we were leading and then we lost unfortunately.”
“This is football. Penalties is painful; it is not the first time it is happening to me but again, I’m very proud of what the boys did in this tournament,” Grant maintained.
Going forward, the Israeli who is just about in the third of a 27-month contract with the Ghana Football Association believes he has assembled a good team which he will build up for the future.
“I think we have a very good team. We want to build it up for the future and to the present, I think in a very short time we did a lot of good things. I think everybody in Ghana can be proud about these boys. They gave everything, a good heart, played good football and I think Ghana will not just see good football in the present but also in the future,” Grant explained.
Ghana produced a young squad which played one of the best football at the 2015 Afcon have been tipped for glory if they are able to maintain some consistency till the next championship in 2017.