Black Stars head coach Otto Addo has come under heavy criticism following his decision to substitute Jordan Ayew and Mohammed Kudus during Ghana’s narrow 1-0 victory over Mali in Accra.
Responding to the concerns, Addo explained that both players were still proving influential but he felt it was the right moment to introduce fresh legs.
“Kudus and Jordan were still having their moments, and whenever they had the ball, they looked capable of creating something. That is why we had to be patient,” he said. “But with about 15 minutes remaining, I decided to make the changes because we had plenty of quality options on the bench. Kamaldeen, Paintsil and Inaki came on and made a good impact.”
The coach further admitted that Ghana could have made better use of their numerical advantage:
“Had we utilised our counter-attacking opportunities more effectively, we could have scored a second goal.”
