{"id":110901,"date":"2023-10-15T18:57:06","date_gmt":"2023-10-15T18:57:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/10\/15\/chris-hughton-blames-defense-after-defeat-to-mexico\/"},"modified":"2023-10-15T18:57:06","modified_gmt":"2023-10-15T18:57:06","slug":"chris-hughton-blames-defense-after-defeat-to-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/10\/15\/chris-hughton-blames-defense-after-defeat-to-mexico\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Hughton blames defense after defeat to Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Ghana coach, Chris Hughton says his side failed to cope with the intensity of the Mexican side following the 2-0 loss.<\/p>\n

The former Brighton manager suffered his first defeat since taking over as the head coach in March early this year in an international friendly at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n

The Black Stars started well in the first half but failed to keep up with the intensity and good start against the El-Tri.<\/p>\n

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PSV Eindhoven\u2019s Hirving Lozano struck first in the 57th minute before Antuna added the second goal inside the 72nd minute.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Hughton acknowledged his side came up against a very good Mexican side.<\/p>\n

\u201cTough opposition, I thought in the first period we coped well, even though we didn\u2019t create the number of chances we should have, but I think we had a reasonable amount of good control of the game.<\/p>\n

So in the first half period, I came in after the half-time not too unhappy, I felt perhaps we could have produced a little more in the final third.<\/p>\n

But I think taking everything into account, we did okay in the first half period. The problem was in the second half period where the Mexican team up the tempo, they are a very good side and they pressed well, they have very sharp players and we struggled to cope with the intensity of their game in the second half period.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth the goals we conceded, from our point of view were two poor defensive goals and then it becomes an uphill battle,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Ghana started with a 3-back formation that had Stephan Ambrosius, Nicholas Opoku and Joseph Aidoo while Thomas Partey and Elisha Owusu partnered in midfield.<\/p>\n

Antoine Semenyo led the lines with Mohammed Kudus and Joseph Painstil operating on either wing as Kingsley Schindler and Gideon Mensah played as wing back.<\/p>\n

Meanwhiel, the Black Stars will take on the United States of America at GEODIS Park in Nashville, Tennessee on Tuesday, October 17, 2023 and will hope to end the international break with a win<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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