Black Stars Gaffer, Chris Hughton admits his side failed to cope with the intensity of the Mexican side following the 2-0 loss in the international friendly at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.
It was the second friendly game for the Black Stars after the Liberia win in Accra at the Accra Sports Stadium.
Hughton was yet to taste a defeat in five games during his tenure after assuming his role as Head Coach.
The Mexicans whose Head Coach, Jaime Lozano prior to the game against the Black Stars had recorded two draws in games against Australia & Uzbekistan, put up a very strong starting 11 which had the likes of Fulham attacker Raul Jimenez & former Napoli attacker Hirving Lozano.
The Black Stars started well in the first half but failed to keep up with the intensity and good start against the El-Tri.
⚽️GOAL | Hirving Lozano
57’ | 🇲🇽 Mexico [1] – 0 Ghana 🇬🇭
pic.twitter.com/5xnJP82Ry5— Prince (@Prin__ceee) October 15, 2023
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Chris Hughton acknowledged his side came up against a very good Mexican side.
Tough opposition, i thought in the first period we coped well, even though we didn’t create the amount of chances we should have, but i think we had reasonable amout of good control of the game.
So in the first half period, i came in after the half time not too unhappy, i felt perhaps we could have porduced a little more in the final third.
⚽️GOAL | Uriel Antuna
72’ | 🇲🇽 Mexico [2] – 0 Ghana 🇬🇭 pic.twitter.com/G4BGcfDkUv
— Prince (@Prin__ceee) October 15, 2023
But i think taking everything into account, i thought we did ok in the first half period, the problem was in the second half period where the Mexican team up the tempo, they are very good side and they pressed well, they have very sharp players and we struggled to cope with the intensity of thier game in the second half period.
I thought both the goals we conceded, from our point of view were two poor defensive goals and then it becomes an uphill battle.
PSV Eindhoven’s Hirving Lozano struck first in the 57th minute before Antuna added the second goal inside the 72nd minute.
Ghana started with a 3-back formation that had Stephan Ambrosius, Nicholas Opoku and Joseph Aidoo while Thomas Partey and Elisha Owusu partnered in midfield.
Antoine Semenyo led the lines with Mohammed Kudus and Joseph Painstil operating on either wing as Kingsley Schindler and Gideon Mensah played as wingbacks.
The final result against Mexico means it is a first loss for Chris Hughton after two wins and two draws in his last four games, with the most recent win against Liberia in an international friendly at the Accra Sports Stadium.
The Black Stars will take on the United States of America at GEODIS Park in Nashville, Tennessee on Tuesday, October 17, 2023.
