‘Qualifying for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations not a given’ – Chris Hughton

Ghana head coach Chris Hughton has highlighted qualifying for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations as one of the positives during his tenure as Black Stars boss.

He is saying this following backlash after Ghana was thumped 4-0 by the United States in an international friendly on Wednesday dawn.

The Yanks picked apart Ghana in the first half by scoring all four goals in 39 minutes.

Hughton took charge of four AFCON qualifying games, winning two and drawing the other two, sealing a 10th successive qualification to the tournament.

Questioned on if he has seen any progress in the team since he took over, Hughton said he has been in football for a long time enough to know what football means to the people.

“I understand all the consequences because I’ve been doing this for a long time and I know what the game means to Ghanaians,” Hughton told the press.

“There is also a positive; we have qualified for the Africa Cup nations. If anybody thinks it is given to you, it is not. We have to go through a qualification group.

“It is my responsibility to build this team. I have to work around some of the issues we’ve always had regards some players missing from the squad, trying to get consistency in the team and we will continue to strive to get the right formulas.

The 4-0 defeat to the US was the second loss for the Black Stars in three days after an earlier 2-0 defeat to the USA.