Mohammed Kudus admitted to holding a ‘mixed feeling’ following Ghana’s 2-2 draw with Egypt in Thursday’s Africa Cup of Nations Group B fixture.
The West Ham United forward made his return from a brief injury absence, having missed the opening fixture with Cape Verde, and made an immediate impact with a superb finish in first-half added time to put his nation in front in Ivory Coast.
Kudus would score again for Ghana, on 71 minutes, putting his team ahead for a second time, but it would not be enough to secure three points as the Pharaohs fought back to secure a share of the spoils in Abidjan.
While the 23-year-old was happy to score twice on his return to the national side, Kudus felt errors cost the Black Stars an important victory.
What a strike from Starboy 🤩🇬🇭 pic.twitter.com/rD2JIgKfT3
— West Ham United (@WestHam) January 18, 2024
“It’s a mixed feeling because as an attacking player you want your goals to reflect on the result, but we got a point today,” he said. “I felt we deserved more because the goals they scored were from some silly mistakes from us, which we need to learn from.
“We will put this game aside and focus on the next game. We knew Egypt were a good side and we came with all the energy and enthusiasm so credit to all the boys, everyone gave their all. I think we fought and we now have to focus on the next game.”
The draw leaves Ghana with one point from their opening two Group B fixtures, meaning a win is essential against Mozambique on Monday for Kudus and his teammates to qualify for the knock-out stages. However, even if they do win, Ghana could be eliminated if other results go against them.
The attacker is confident he and his international compatriots can not only progress, but still possess the quality to win the competition.
“Qualifying from the group is very possible,” he added. “Until we finish the last game in the group, it’s the same focus. You could see the fighting spirit and the energy from the guys. We have to do more than that in the last game because we have to get the three points at all costs and we will see what happens after.
“The ultimate goal for all of us is to lift the trophy, but the sub goal is to get out of the group so the focus is on one game at a time.
“Like I said, the ultimate goal is to win the trophy - that is the aim we came here with - but we can’t look far ahead of us, so we just need to take it one game at time.”
