Michail Antonio’s words seem quite prophetic today: His comments whilst in Ghana referring to his teammate needing to step up and develop mental resilience could almost have been pre-prepared for today. It seems inevitable that an avalanche of bad media and social media comment is about to descend upon Antonio’s unfortunate West Ham colleague.
‘Leadership’ for Mohammed Kudus is a very steep learning curve right now, with criticism coming from every quarter.
Being captain of your country’s international soccer team is a privilege, however when your country is soccer-mad Ghana the downside for not performing is huge. Last night’s 1-1 draw between Angola and Ghana might have passed you by in this international break, but the reality is it leaves Mohammed Kudus’ team bottom of the AFCON group and absolute failures with no chance of qualifying for the 2025 tournament.
Previous losses have led to furious exchanges between Kudus and critics on social media, most notably his X-rated twitterX ‘shut the front door’ rant in June.
Quite how the failure to qualify will affect the suspended Hammers’ winger is anybody’s guess. For months his frustration has been growing as results have nosedived – and his behind closed doors face-off with Lopetegui and the subsequent red card during the Spurs match are further evidence of his troubled state of mind.
Ghana have one more home match on Monday against Niger on Monday – a ‘dead rubber’ as qualification is impossible – but wearing my West Ham supporters’ hat I hope Kudus gets a goal and a Ghana win – to settle him down before the Premier League restarts. Whether he stays at West Ham and thrives or gets sold in the January window (Gonzo’s earlier piece today) – we hope he heeds Michail Antonio’s words of wisdom and learns better how to cope with the pressure upon him.
