Ghana’s coach Chris Hughton says his players know the magnitude of their Africa Cup of Nations final group B game against Mozambique on Monday, January 22, 2024.
He was speaking at the pre-match conference ahead of the must-win game at the Stade Alassane Ouattara in Ebimpe scheduled for 8:00 PM.
Ghana needs a win over Mozambique to stand the chance of progressing to the knockout stage of the tournament after picking only one point from their first two games against Cape Verde and Egypt.
“We are aware of the magnitude of this game; we know that this is a game that we have to win,’’ the former Brighton and Hove Albion coach said.
According to him their preparation going into the game has been “the same as in the two previous games and all we can do is to prepare the team to play a very tough match as all of these games are and to make sure that we put in the level of performance that allow us to win this game.’’
Chris Hughton continued by stressing on the need for the team to welcome pressure admitting that pressure is associated with football.
“I think we are all aware that this is a situation that we would rather not be in, and we feel certainly from the performance and the goals that we conceded that we should be in a better position, but we are not so the conversation is not difficult.
“This is a game that we have to win. The level of performance in our game against Egypt was better than our level of performance in our first game against Cape Verde so the players know what it would take to get the result. There are no easy games in this tournament, and we will come up against a Mozambique team that also know that they have to win to progress, so we have to be physically and mentally prepared for this and the players know this.
“I think of the pressure that you go into every tournament with; I don’t think it’s a reflection of the past. There isn’t anybody that is associated with the Black Stars that isn’t conscious of the trophies that we have won and the dominance that the team has shown in this competition in the past, but this is a different year,” he noted.
Chris Hughton added “There is always pressure if you are a Black Stars head coach, there is always pressure if you are a Black Stars player, and this comes with the game.
But we have a group of players as does every team that go into pressurized games at club level. Be it to win the League or to make sure they stay in the League or to stay in the Cup competition or to stay in the European competition so the levels of pressure on both the head coach and the player and it comes with the job, and you have to accept it and you have to welcome it.”
