Midfielder Mohammed Kudus made the headlines on Thursday after passing a late fitness test to start for Ghana in the Africa Cup of Nations group B encounter against seven time champions Egypt in Abidjan.
Kudus missed Ghana’s opening game against Cape Verde but made amends in his first appearance in the Africa Cup of Nations having missed the last edition in Cameroon two years ago. The West Ham United player scored in added time in the first half before netting again in the 71st minute but the Pharoahs rallied back to pick a point in a 2-2 draw.
His performance won him the Player of the Match accolade – becoming Ghana’s second player to receive the award in the tournament after Alexander Djiku won in the opening game.
In his reaction to the Man of the Match award, Mohammed Kudus commended his team for showing hunger, fighting spirit and enthusiasm and called on his team mates to remain positive going into the last group game against Mozambique on Monday.
Read for for the full transcript:
On the outcome of the match
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. I felt we deserve more because the goals they scored were from some silly mistakes from us which we need to learn from.
On mentality for Egypt
We will put this game aside and focus on the next game. We knew Egypt was a good side so we came with all the energy and enthusiasm so credit to all the boys, everyone game their all. I think we fought and we now have to focus on the next game.
On Ghana qualifying from the group
It is very possible, 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 today. We have to do more than that in the last game because we have to get the three points at all cost and we will see what happens after.
On title aspirations
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 tom take it one game at time.
On shifting focus to the next game
Like we finished today, the next focus is to get the three in the next game and the next game, that is focus every single game until, we bring the trophy home.
On Mohammed Salah leaving the pitch injured
We know he is a very top player but my focus was on my team. With or without him, we still approached the game the same way so sorry for his injury, I wish him speedy recovery but we played – with or without him with the same mentality.
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