Ghana’s head coach, Chris Hughton, is keenly aware of the significance of minimizing defensive errors in international football matches. As the Black Stars prepare to take on the United States Men’s National Team (USMNT) in a friendly, Hughton has reflected on the lessons learned from their previous encounter against Mexico and the need to avoid defensive lapses.
Hughton began by acknowledging the team’s relatively strong first-half performance in the match against Mexico. However, he emphasized the challenges of playing against a formidable Mexican side in their own stadium, with a deep knowledge of the pitch and home advantage. The second half witnessed Mexico raising their game, intensifying their play, and increasing their ball possession.
”We were relatively happy with the first half performance. But I think when you playing against a very good Mexican team in their own stadium as such. Because that is what it felt and on a surface that they know well, when they raise their game, which they did in the second half, they raised the intensity of their game, we had to match that and ball possession needed in that second half period”
The coach pointed out that in matches where the opposition has the upper hand in terms of chances, it becomes even more crucial to maintain a solid defensive line and avoid conceding avoidable goals. Hughton expressed his disappointment with the two goals Ghana conceded in the previous match, considering them preventable errors.
“It also goes to say that you can have a lot of games you know that the opposition will have a bigger percentage of chances but what you can’t afford to so is what we regards as bad defensive goals and the two goals we gave away we thought were avoidable and if we are able to avoid them to opportunities then maybe we come out of the game as not being the better team but what we regards as probably a good result”
The Black Stars will face United States of America at GEODIA Park, Nashville, Tennessee on Tuesday evening.
