Mohammed Kudus scores as ‘united’ Ghana qualify for 2026 World Cup
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Tottenham Hotspur's Ghanian striker Mohammed Kudus during a Premier League match against Leeds United.
AFP
Follow topic:
JOHANNESBURG – Ghana coach Otto Addo has praised his “matured” side after they made it to the 2026 World Cup following their failure to qualify for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon).
The team will not play in the Afcon starting on Dec 21 for the first time in 20 years after a winless run in the qualifiers, but on Oct 12 they managed to redeem themselves.
Mohammed Kudus scored as Ghana beat Comoros 1-0 in Accra to win Group I and become the fifth African qualifiers for the World Cup after Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia.
“To say it very simply, we scored more goals (in the World Cup qualifiers than the Afcon qualifiers), we were more matured, we were more clinical in our finishes,” Addo told Ghana broadcaster Citi Sports.
“There were less distractions also… but I do think we’ve now come together as a united team. If you have unity, everything is easy.”
Cheered on by a capacity 40,000 crowd, Ghana dominated first-half possession, but slow, predictable attacks meant Comoros goalkeeper Adel Anzimati-Aboudou was seldom troubled.
However, the home side wasted little time after the interval in taking the lead as Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Kudus struck on 47 minutes.
Comoros only partially cleared a goalmouth scramble and when the ball was crossed low into the six-yard box, Kudus tapped it into the net from point-blank range.
Success against Comoros was particularly sweet as they shocked Ghana at the Afcon in 2022 and beat them again in a World Cup qualifier in 2023.
Ghana top the group with 25 points from 10 matches. Madagascar finished second with 19 points despite a 4-1 loss to third-placed Mali in Bamako.
It will be the fifth appearance by the Black Stars in the global showpiece. Their best performance was in 2010 in South Africa, where they lost to Uruguay after a quarter-final penalty shoot-out.
Qualification for the expanded 48-nation 2026 tournament, which the United States, Canada and Mexico will co-host, justified the faith of Ghanaian officials in Addo, who was under fire in 2024 for the side’s poor performances.
There were persistent demands from the public and media in the West African country for him to be sacked after their disastrous Afcon qualifying campaign.
Ghana, winners of the competition four times, did not win any of the six Afcon qualifiers and finished a humiliating last behind Angola, Sudan and Niger with just three points.
Elsewhere, Egypt rested Liverpool star Mohamed Salah for their final match at home to Guinea-Bissau and an early goal from Mohamed Hamdy delivered a 1-0 Group A victory in Cairo.
Niger upset Zambia 1-0 in Ndola to finish second in Group E behind Morocco, and currently lie third in the runners-up table behind Gabon and Burkina Faso.
The four best-ranked second-placed teams after the final qualifiers on Oct 14 advance to play-offs in Morocco in November.
The team who win the mini-tournament, featuring single-match semi-finals and a final, will qualify for the six-nation intercontinental play-offs in March 2026 when two World Cup places are up for grabs. AFP
