S. GitahiAFCON 2023: Houghton expresses fury after Egypt draw, promises to keep on fighting
Reading Time: 3min | Fri. 19.01.24. | 14:39
Rui Vitoria on the other hand was impressed by his player’s determination, as the Pharaohs twice mounted a comeback to maintain their unbeaten start to the campaign
Black Stars head coach, Chris Hughton has expressed his frustrations following their 2-2 draw with Egypt in the second-round group game of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Côte d'Ivoire 2023.
Ghana led twice and bottled it all to allow Egypt to pick a point from the game.
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Despite the disappointing result, Chris Hughton is not giving up.
“We will continue to fight. It is true that at the moment there is a lot of frustration in the locker room,” he said. “Our team deserved more, but football is like that. It's frustrating.
“In a similar performance, we would surely have won. Two errors cost us the match. We didn’t take this opportunity to take the three points.”
The first goal for Egypt came when Marmoush, a threat all match, pounced on an awful backpass by Iñaki Williams to round Ofori and tuck home, before substitute Osmane Bukari was dispossessed by Trezeguet in his own area to set up Mostafa Mohamed’s ultimate equalizer.
Bukari was substituted later on in the 89th minute for Joseph Paintsil, with Houghton explaining his decision.
Hughton says he took Osman Bukari out not because of the error.
— Saddick Adams (@SaddickAdams) January 18, 2024
After he made the mistake, the emotions were getting the better of him. pic.twitter.com/NyCAO3GZip
“Firstly, I would like to say that we love Osmane,” he told CAF Online. “However, I had to take him out because his mistakes were starting to affect his performance.”
With all eyes on the next opponent in Mozambique, the Black Stars head coach said: “There are no more small teams in Africa. We are preparing for a tough match against them. The calculations are already made, we need a victory to pursue our dream and I know we are capable of it.”
Egypt’s Rui Vitoria on the other hand was impressed by his player’s determination, as they twice mounted a comeback to maintain their unbeaten start to the campaign.
“I have full confidence in my team,” he said. “I saw men this evening who fought to the end only victory eluded us.
“We showed great qualities this evening against a revitalized Ghana. The players applied our instructions perfectly. There was room to win the match.”
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The Portuguese could however not confirm the status of Mohamed Salah’s injury saying: “At the moment, I cannot comment on the seriousness of his injury. Of course, we are worried and we hope it is not too serious. We will have to keep the same state of mind for the next match against Cape Verde.”
AFCON 2023- GROUP STAGE
Round 2
Thursday
Equatorial Guinea - Guinea Bissau 4-2 (1-1)
/Nsue 21, 51, 61, Miranda 46 - Orosco 37, Ze Turbo 90+3/
Ivory Coast - Nigeria 0-1 (0-0)
/Troost-Ekong 54 pen/
Egypt - Ghana 2-2 (0-1)
/Marmoush 69, M. Mohamed 74 - Kudus 45+3, 71/
Friday
17:00: (2.15) Cape Verde (3.15) Mozambique (3.70)
20:00: (1.97) Senegal (3.30) Cameroon (4.20)
23:00: (2.15) Guinea (3.15) Gambia (3.70)
Saturday
17:00: (1.72) Algeria (3.50) Burkina Faso (5.40)
20:00: (3.15) Mauritania (3.05) Angola (2.45)
23:00: (2.75) Tunisia (2.95) Mali (2.85)
Sunday
17:00: (1.58) Morocco (3.70) DR Congo (6.75)
20:00: (2.30) Zambia (3.15) Tanzania (3.35)
23:00: (2.00) S.Africa (3.30) Namibia (4.00)
***odds are subject to change***
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