Ghana’s head coach, Chris Hughton, remains hopeful about his team’s performance as they prepare for their second friendly match against the United States of America at the GEODIS Park Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee.
This optimism follows the Black Stars’ recent 2-0 defeat against Mexico’s El Tri at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, USA.
These outcomes underscore Ghana’s recent challenges, as they have yet to secure a victory in their last four encounters with the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup Champions. The purpose of these friendlies against Mexico and the USA is to ready the team for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers beginning in November and the Africa Cup of Nations scheduled for January next year.
Hughton reiterated his expectations during a post-match press conference, stressing the need for an improved performance in the final friendly against the USA. He emphasized the importance of avoiding two poor results and expressed confidence in the team’s ability to provide a better performance.
He stated, “What we don’t want is to leave this international camp with two poor results. The result of that is always you are looking for a reaction from the team in the second game [USA].”
Hughton emphasized the need for the team to strive for a better outcome in the second game to prevent leaving the international camp with two unsatisfactory results. Learning from their shortcomings in the first game against Mexico is essential for achieving a positive result against the USA.
He added, “So what we have to do is to learn from the things you didn’t do so well in the first game against Mexico.”
The last time Ghana faced the USA in an international friendly was in July 2017, resulting in a 2-1 loss at the Pratt and Whitney Stadium in East Hartford.