NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – Black Stars coach Chris Hughton is gearing up for a highly anticipated international friendly match against the United States of America (USA) at GEODIS Park in Nashville on Tuesday night.
With kickoff scheduled for 19:37 CT on Tuesday (00:37 GMT on Wednesday), this game holds significance as the first time the USMNT will play at the 30,000-capacity stadium, the nation’s largest soccer-specific venue.
In his pre-match briefing on Monday, Hughton didn’t mince his words when assessing the challenges posed by the USMNT.
He acknowledged the competitive spirit surrounding the encounter, saying, “I think the challenges are quite obvious. We are up against a very good team that has got good experience with a very good ranking and, of course, playing at home.”
The Ghana coach revealed that his team has done its homework, closely observing the USMNT’s recent match against Germany.
He noted, “We have watched a lot of games, we watched the recent game against Germany, and I think it was a game of two halves.”
Hughton acknowledged the strong performance by the U.S. in the first half, despite facing a formidable German team.
While acknowledging the quality of the American squad, the Ghana coach emphasized that his team embraces the challenges that come with this encounter.
“The challenges will be high, but that is exactly why we are here,” he stated.
Reflecting on Ghana’s recent performance, he touched upon the competitive nature of the defeat to Mexico in Charlotte and identified room for improvement.
“We had a very challenging game, of course, on Saturday,” he said.
“In the first half of the game, we competed and competed very well and conceded two poor goals, but you can’t do that against that type of quality.”
The U.S. Men’s National Team (USMNT) has faced Ghana in four previous encounters, with a mixed record. Three of these meetings took place on the world’s grandest stage, the Fifa World Cup. Ghana notably eliminated the U.S. from both the 2006 and 2010 World Cup competitions. However, the U.S. secured a victory against the Black Stars in the group stage of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
The most recent encounter between the two teams ended in a 2-1 victory for the U.S. in 2017, played in Hartford.
The game at GEODIS Park is set to write a new chapter in this international rivalry.
Note: The kickoff time was adjusted to match the CT to GMT conversion.