Black Stars head coach, Chris Hughton, has admitted his team struggled to cope with Mexico when the North Americans upped their tempo in the second half.
Ghana conceded two poor second half goals to lose 2-0 in Sunday dawn’s international friendly, bringing Hughton’s unbeaten run with the Black Stars to an end at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, USA.
At his post-match press conference, Hughton said his team performed well in the first half, except not creating more goalscoring opportunities.
“Certainly, in the first half period I came in not too unhappy, you know. I felt we could have perhaps produced a little bit more in the final third; a few more goal scoring opportunities.
“The problem was in the second half where the Mexican team upped the tempo of their game.
“You know they’re a very good side and they press well; they have very sharp players and we struggled to cope with the intensity of their game in in that second half period.”
After a goalless first-half, Mexico took the lead in the 57th minute through PSV forward, Hirving Lozano, who picked on Ghana’s poor defensive organisation to slice home at the right post of Lawrence Ati-Zigi.
The North Americans doubled their advantage in the 72nd minute through Dynamo Moscow’s Uriel Antuna.
The 26-year-old picked a through ball that split Ghana’s defence before putting it away to condemn Ghana to the defeat.
The Black Stars will next face the United States on Wednesday dawn at 12:30 A.M at the Geodis Park in Tennessee.