World Cup Qualifying: Ghana coach Otto Addo gutted after Chad draw

Ghana national team coach Otto Addo has admitted to being disappointed with the missed opportunities as his side were pegged back by Chad in their Group I 1-1 draw of the 2026 World Cup qualifying match at Stade Olympique Maréchal Idriss Deby Itno MIDI in N’Djamena on Thursday.

The Black Stars had taken a deserved lead courtesy of Jordan Ayew the 17th-minute, but substitute Celestin Ecua snatched an 89th-minute equaliser for the hosts. Ayew raced to the byline to meet a cross from Mohammed Kudus, which he slotted home.

Asked to evaluate the team’s overall performance, Addo said: “Yeah, very disappointing. Just one point for us. Yeah, it’s not easy for us to play on this ground, in the heat, but we have to take it and I think we came in well to score the first goal.

“We continued to dominate, we created a lot of chances, but we were not sharp enough to use them. For us, unluckily, I think the first shot from Chad, which hit the target, entered the net, it was a deflection, but this is football sometimes, you know. We had a lot of chances, we could have killed the game before, or we must have killed the game before, but we didn’t do it.

“They have one big chance, I think there were some wide shots from Chad, but other than that, there was no big chance of one deflection in the goal. So yeah, it’s really, really disappointing for us. I want to congratulate Chad for getting the point, for sure.”

Addo continued: “For me, the most important thing is, the three or four good chances we had, we should have scored the second goal, to make our opponent weak, and also mentally weak, and us stronger.

“But we didn’t use our chances. Like I said before, in football, sometimes it’s like that, if you don’t use the three or four good chances you have, sometimes you’re unlucky and you’ll get one. Chad played very well at the end.”

The draw left Ghana top of the pile with 16 points, four clear of Comoros (12) with two matches to play. Ghana will next come up against Mali on September 8.

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