Attacker Kudus Mohammed has slammed his Black Stars teammates for their ‘silly mistakes’ and ‘lack of concentration’ which has led to their elimination from the ongoing 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) campaign in Côte d’Ivoire.
The Black Stars, who were seeking to end the country’s 42-year trophy drought suffered an embarrassing 2-2 draw in their last group game against Mozambique in Abidjan on Monday night.
Ghana raced to a 2-0 lead, thanks to Jordan Ayew’s two penalties in each half.
But the Black Stars conceded two late goals in injury time, one through a penalty for an Andre Ayew handball in the 91st minute, and the other through a header from a corner which goalkeeper Richard Ofori inexplicably conceded.
In the stars’ second group game against Egypt, two individual errors from Inaki Williams and Osman Bukari undid Kudus’ work, with the West Ham man having scored a brace. The game ended 2-2.
In Ghana’s first game against Cape Verde, the Islanders’ winning goal came from a mix-up in communication between defender Mohammed Salisu and goalkeeper Richard Ofori, which allowed Garry Rodrigues to pounce.
The results have left Ghana staring at another group stage exit, having finished 3rd in their group with only two points.
Kudus, who was named man of the match for the second time at the post-match press conference, said the players dug their own grave.
“In games like this, it’s just small margins, the little things. Keep your focus throughout the whole game. We gave away two cheap goals; against Egypt the same thing. We just lost our concentration in the last minute of the game.
“Today was an easy win for us. Just keep it like that till the end of the game. We were just too sloppy, two silly mistakes. This game was too easy,” he said while wiping tears from his face.
The four-time AFCON winners have now suffered back-to-back exits from the tournament in the first round.
