(Credit: Imago)

Press reacts to 'criminal' Mohammed Kudus display as West Ham United forward plays for Ghana v Mexico

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15 Oct 2023, 2:40 am

West Ham forward Mohammed Kudus failed to make any sort of impact as his Ghana side fell to a 2-0 defeat to Mexico in the early hours of Sunday (15 October).

Kudus played the full 90 minutes for Ghana in the international friendly at Bank of America Stadium in North Carolina, as goals from Hirving Lozano and Uriel Antuna secured the win for Mexico.

The 23-year-old played just off Bournemouth striker Antoine Semenyo in a 4-2-3-1 formation, but he and his team-mates failed to muster a single shot on target.

As pointed out by Owuraku Ampofo on Twitter (15 October), Kudus has just 17 touches of the ball in the first half, which the 3Sports Ghana reporter labelled "criminal".

However, Kudus did have some bright moments in the first half, with Vavel's live blog of the contest (15 October) describing the West Ham man as being a "surprise" and a "danger" who was causing Mexico's defence "problems".

The former Ajax ace ultimately could not help his side create much of anything, though, with club colleague Edson Alvarez getting the better of their personal battle.

Indeed, as Mexican outlet Analistas put it on Twitter (15 October), Alvarez "annulled" Kudus by limiting him to very few touches in areas where it mattered.

We are showing this Mexican side too much respect. This isn’t a cup final, we need to come out in the second half and show we can actually play football. Limiting Mohammed Kudus to just 17 touches in the first half is criminal.
— Owuraku Ampofo (@_owurakuampofo) October 15, 2023

It was a day to forget for Kudus and his Ghana team-mates, but they have a chance to quickly respond when facing the United States at Geodis Park on Wednesday.

From a West Ham perspective, let's just hope the big summer signing can find some form for his country and, most importantly of all, come through the match unscathed.

In other West Ham news, the Hammers have been linked with a European defender as a possible replacement for Kurt Zouma.

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