GHANA MANAGER CHRIS Hughton was confronted and verbally abused by a supporter in the wake of his side’s shock 2-1 defeat to Cape Verde at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Ghana’s tournament prospects suffered huge damage in what was their opening group game to a side ranked 73rd in the world, losing to Garry Rodrigues’ last-minute goal.
In the aftermath of the game, Hughton was confronted by an angry supporter ,who verbally abused him. A spokesperson for the Ghanaian FA told The 42 that the supporter was removed from the scene by a member of the team’s security. Contrary to earlier reporting, there was no physical altercation, and the supporter was not arrested.
“What is important is that we have had meetings with the technical team and assured them of our undiluted support so for now our focus is on how to win the two remaining matches in the group to qualify to the next stage”, the spokesperson told The 42.
Ghana’s next game is against Egypt on Thursday, and is a game they must not lose if they hope to progress to the last-16. Ghana have a great history at AFCON, winning the tournament four times. The last of those victories, however, came back in 1982.
Hughton’s father hailed from Ghana, and he was appointed as technical director in 2022, assisting then-manager Otto Addo at the World Cup in Qatar. Hughton then succeeded Addo as manager, signing a contract that runs until the end of this year.
He has been under pressure ahead of this tournament, however, with recent results including a 1-0 defeat to Comoros in World Cup qualifying.
Elsewhere at Afcon, defending champions Senegal today opened their tournament with a comfortable 3-0 win over Gambia.
In the Asia Cup, Heung-Min Son’s South Korea beat Bahrain 3-1, while Iraq beat Indonesia 3-1.
