West Ham United and Ghana forward Mohammed Kudus expressed his disappointment with the outcome of his country’s 2-2 draw with Mozambique in their final Group B match on Monday night.
Jordan Ayew scored a brace from two-spot kicks and Ghana were almost on their way to booking a spot in the knockout stage.
Mozambique, on the other hand, scored two late goals—a Geny Catamo penalty after Andre Ayew handled the ball in the box in the first minute of additional time and a Reinildo equalizer three minutes later—to deny Ghana a place in the knockout stage.
Kudus, who scored a brace in his first match against Egypt, played 89 minutes and was named man of the match.
Speaking after the match, he said the team failed to win the game due to a lack of concentration.
“I am very disappointed,” he told reporters. “We really wanted this victory but it wasn’t to be. It’s a big disappointment for us.
“We lost the game by losing concentration in the last minutes, like against Egypt too. We showed lots of qualities here but losing focus at the end cost us.”
Ghana are as good as out of the competition after managing only two points in three matches.
Egypt sneaks into knockout stage
Meanwhile, Egypt sneaked into the knockout stage following a dramatic 2-2 draw with Group B Cape Verde.
Gilson Tavares put the Blue Sharks in the lead in the 47th minute of the first half. But the Pharoahs were quick to respond five minutes after the restart through substitute Trezeguet.
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Mostafa Mohamed thought he was the hero for Egypt when he scored in stoppage time to put them 2-1 up over surprise group leaders Cabo Verde, but there was more drama to come as Bryan Teixeira leveled in the 99th minute.