Port Said, Egypt (PANA) - Ghanaian defender, Samuel Osei Kuffour, said the Black Stars lost the Africa Nations Cup opening Group D match to Nigeria 0-1 Monday because of failure to play to the coach's instructions.

"We lost because we disobeyed our coach's instructions. Everyone could see we had a nice game and it's rather unfortunate that we lost the game because the result could have gone either side," he affirmed.

"We had two scoring opportunities towards the end but we failed to take them but Nigeria had a not-too-clear chance and they scored, and I think we paid for our carelessness. We lost concentration towards the end of the match," Kuffuour told PANA at the Helnan Hotel here.

According to him: "Our coach had instructed us to always station somebody in front of the ball whenever Nigeria had a free-kick. We didn't do that in the dying minutes and we paid for it."

But the Black Star defender believes "all is not lost because we still have two games against Senegal and Zimbabwe."

"If we win those games we'll go through," he predicted.

Though Kuffour, who also plays for Italy's AS Roma, admitted that the absence of injured Chelsea of England star Michael Essien, was felt by the Black Stars, he said Ghana did well against Nigeria on Monday.

"Of course, we missed Essien, but I think we still played well in his absence. "It would have been nice for him to be here. May be the result would have been different. But life goes on. Hopefully, he'll be with us for the World Cup," he added.