Mexico prove too strong for Ghana in convincing friendly victory

[p]There was perhaps a lack of enthusiasm for this friendly fixture, with the stadium looking empty in some parts. However, the home fans were celebrating within two minutes as the WC host nation opened the scoring in comical circumstances.[/p][p][b]Benjamin Asare was caught trying to play out from the back and instead passed straight to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gutierrez-brian/hKGJC09T/"]Brian Gutierrez[/a], who curled an excellent finish into an empty net from outside the box. [/b][/p][p]After Otto Addo’s sacking 72 days before the start of the showpiece tournament, the Ghanaian FA appointed Carlos Queiroz, but the Portuguese coach was not in the dugout for personal reasons, with his assistant, Desmond Ofei, taking charge.[/p][p]Javier Aguirre, meanwhile, fielded a full XI from the Liga MX, with European players still committed to their domestic leagues, contributing to a stop-start contest in the second half.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/mexico/O6iHcNkd/"]Mexico[/a] were denied a second goal five minutes before half-time after Alexis Vega brilliantly headed into the far corner, only to be adjudged to have been narrowly offside.[/p][embed guid="0b90e727-adc9-44ab-971a-bcf196410d3e" url="https://x.com/miseleccionmx/status/2058028230792167603" social-type="twitter" /][p]Aguirre made five changes ahead of the second half, including the introduction of [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/martinez-guillermo/WGHh6F6F/"]Guillermo Martinez[/a], who doubled Mexico’s lead nine minutes after the restart.[/p][p][b]After being picked out just inside the box by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/romo-luis/KjqnJo1F/"]Luis Romo[/a], Martinez took a touch before powering the ball into the top left corner.[/b][/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/ghana/nNBjHale/"]Ghana[/a] ultimately struggled to get a foothold in the contest, with their only clear-cut opportunity coming when Jesurun Rak-Sakyi struck the crossbar from a corner kick situation. [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/adams-salim/Y9ApzG3c/"]Salim Adams[/a] then tried his luck from range late on for the African nation, but his effort sailed narrowly wide.[/p][p]In the end, it was a comfortable evening for Aguirre's men, with more stern tests to come before their tournament opener against South Africa on June 11th.[/p][p]For Ofei and Queiroz, it was an opportunity to give some of their players a run-out before making the final squad announcement in the coming days, and both nations will have stronger squads in their upcoming friendlies ahead of the highly anticipated WC.[/p][p][b]Flashscore Man of the Match: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gutierrez-brian/hKGJC09T/"]Brian Gutierrez[/a] ([a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/mexico/O6iHcNkd/"]Mexico[/a])[/b][/p][image alt="Player ratings" id="5b9f06b9-0716-4a4e-b600-60b486fe0444" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="47e81dd1-6206-4b5b-8d44-e85d8ef6c678" original-width="1200" original-height="1200" /][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/ghana-nNBjHale/mexico-O6iHcNkd/?mid=EiTNwQjd"]Catch up on the match with Flashscore.[/a][/b][/p]