Ghana has been handed a major boost ahead of their 2022 FIFA Word Cup play-off double header against in-form Nigeria following a full recovery of the Black Stars play maker, Mohammed Kudus.
The -year old Ghana midfielder has declared himself ‘fully fit’ for any football match after scoring a hat-trick for Ajax’s Youth team in a 6-3 win over ADO Den Haag in the Dutch Eerste Divisie on Monday.
The Ajax star player made his first major appearance for the Dutch side on Sunday for the first time since his injury in November last year, and helped to side to a 3-2 Eredivisie victory over Waalwijk. Kudus found the back of the net three times for Ajax’s U23 side to help them claim all three points in the second-tier league.
The appearance for the Ajax junior side on Monday marks the former Nordsjælland man’s steps to full recovery following a rib injury he picked up while on international duty with Ghana against South Africa last November.
Speaking to Voetbalzone after his hat-trick on Monday, Kudus addressed his fitness issues and declared himself fully fit, making him available to coach Otto Addo as he is set to announce his squad for the task against Nigeria in the coming weeks.
“It’s an injury that you can’t do rehab or there’s no treatment. I just had to stay and wait for it to heal by itself which is hard, but for me, I’ve crossed another challenge again and for me it’s how I react to those challenges, so, I’m fully fit now and I’m back again”, Kudus told Voetbalzone.
Ghana interim coach Otto Addo is expected to name his squad for the two legged fixtures of the Qatar 2022 World Cup play-off against Nigeria this week, and it’s left to be seen whether Kudus will be handed a call up.
Kudus was named in the Ghana final squad for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon, but he failed to join the camp of the Black Stars due to his injury situation, and he is now back to full fitness.