Ghana endured a rather bad start to their defence of the African Youth Championships title with defeat to rivals, Nigeria on Monday.

The Black Satellites lost 2-1 in the Group B opener in Johannesburg.

Uche Nowfor, was Nigeria's hero after scoring both goals in each half for the Flying Eagles to cancel out Kwame Nsor's headed equaliser.

Ghana, now has two games to save their campaign with matches coming up against Cameroon and Gambia.

Four teams in each group will meet in a round-robin format, with group winners and runners-up qualifying for the FIFA-organized U-20 World Cup in Colombia beginning in July.