Thomas-Asante reacts to debut goal in Ghana’s Unity Cup defeat to Nigeria

Ghana Football Association (@GhanaBlackstars)/X

Ghana forward Brandon Thomas-Asante has expressed delight over scoring his debut goal for the senior national team.

The Coventry City attacker netted in Ghana’s 2-1 loss against rivals Nigeria in the 2025 opener of the Unity Cup at the GTech Stadium on Wednesday.

Nigeria took the lead through Rangers FC forward Cyriel Dessers in just 14 minutes before the Super Eagles found the second through Razak Simpson’s own goal six minutes later.

Thomas-Asante finished from a perfect cross by Ebenezer Annan in the 70th minute but it was not enough to save the four-time African champions from defeat.

The 26-year-old said: “On the whole it was a bit frustrating, this is a big game for us. We know we can win this game against this team so a bit frustrating on that note. But I’m happy to make my start and scoring a goal for Ghana which I intended to do for a long time,” Thomas-Asante said after the game.

“It’s amazing [to play in front of the fans], it just shows what football is about and coach is about even though half of the fans are for you and half against you but that’s amazing and we want to see more days like this hopefully everyone is happy, we enjoyed it.

When asked about the third place finish game against Trinidad and Tobago who lost 3-2 to Jamaica, the Asante said: “To be honest I’m a little bit frustrated because I’m Jamaican as well and I would have liked to take that one but in terms of playing Trinidad, same attitude we go as always, try and win the game and put things right which we want to do.” He added.

Ghana will face Trinidad and Tobago on Saturday May 31 in the third place play-off with Nigeria locking horns with Jamaica in the finals.

Thomas-Asante contributed four goals in 38 matches with three assists as Coventry finished 6th on the log with 69 points.