Ghana's under-17 have beaten Burkina Faso 3-1 in Group B's opening game of the African Under-17 Championships taking place in Lome, Togo.

Ghana took the lead after just five minutes through a free kick strike from Ransford Osei.

Yartey Ishmael gave the side a two-goal cushion on 30 minutes.

Ishmael's second came on 54 minutes after he capitalised on a goal mouth scramble.

Mousse Traore scored Burkina Faso's consolation 64 minutes into the match.

Ghana's coach Osam Buobo said after the match that he had hoped his team would have won by more.

"We had game plan which we didn't follow - if we had stuck to the plan we would have won by more."

All four semi-finalists of the competition will go through to the Fifa Under 17s tournament that will be held in South Korea this summer.