Mohammed Kudus played the full 90 minutes and registered an assist as Ghana secured a 1-1 draw in Niger in their second CAF Africa Cup of Nations qualifying Group F tie on Monday.
The West Ham United winger won his 36th senior cap as the Black Stars gained their first point of the qualifying campaign for the 2025 tournament.
Ghana took the lead in a tie held on neutral ground at the Stade Municipal de Berkane in Morocco a minute before half-time.
Kudus set up Stade Rennais defender Alidu Seidu to score in spectacular style, beating two Niger players before finding Seidu, who blasted home with a swerving effort from the edge of the penalty area.
With that, Kudus and his teammates looked on course to recover from their 1-0 home defeat by Angola last Thursday, but Niger had other ideas and equalised through Rostov defender Oumar Sako’s leveler nine minutes from full-time.
The result leaves Ghana with one point from two ties, while Angola have six and Sudan have three after Angola’s 2-1 home win over Sudan on Monday, and Niger also have one.
Ghana play Sudan home and away in October in two matches that will be pivotal to their chances of finishing in the top two and qualifying for the 2025 Cup of Nations, which will be held in Morocco in March next year.
Speaking of Morocco, centre-back Nayef Aguerd, on loan at Real Sociedad, started for the hosts, who have already qualified but are taking part in the qualifiers.
Aguerd kept a clean sheet in a 1-0 victory over Lesotho, which Morocco hosted themselves in Agadir, as Real Madrid’s Brahim Díaz scored the only goal in the third minute of added-time.
Finally on Monday evening, Alphonse Areola was an unused substitute as France dominated Belgium in a 2-0 victory in UEFA Nations League A Group 2 in Lyon. The French had lost to Italy in their opening game and are now second in the table after the Italians defeated Israel 2-1 in Budapest, Hungary.
