West Ham manager Julen Lopetegui blames Ghana for Kudus’ red card

West Ham manager Julen Lopetegui has taken a swipe at the Black Stars for causing Mohammed Kudus to lose his cool in the Hammers’ Premier League match against Spurs last weekend.

Mohammed Kudus opened the scoring for West Ham after he met Jarrod Bowen’s cut-back in the first half, giving the visitors a 1-0 lead in the London Derby.

However, a strong response from Spurs saw West Ham picked apart as they were comfortably beaten 4-1.

With four minutes to go, after the damaged had been inflicted by Spurs, Mohammed Kudus was challenged by Spurs’ Micky van de Ven, with the Ghanaian lashing out in response to the tackle and gesture van de Ven made.

The Dutch defender was pointing to his head while talking to Kudus as the midfielder retaliated by poking him in the face, before lashing out to poke Pape Sarr as well.

The incident saw the referee upgrade a yellow card to red upon consultation with the video assistants, leading to Kudus receiving a first red card since 2019.

The melee and unsportsmanlike behavior portrayed by Kudus was pinned down to frustration -by his manager- to get favourable results with his country Ghana, who lost and drew against Sudan in the 2025 AFCON qualifiers during the October international break, leaving them on the brink of not making the AFCON for the first time since 2004.

“I think that he brings his frustration with his national team too, because they lost and drew their matches and that was bad, he said.

‘He has to improve his temperament because this can’t happen. I am sure this will be the last time it happens. The only way to handle frustration is to focus on the match because these kind of behaviours ruin the match. He will learn about this incident and his behaviour will be better in the future, he added.

The FA is still mulling over the ban to hand out to Kudus who, at the moment, will play no part in West Ham’s upcoming three league games.

The decision of the FA is expected to be known after the weekend.

The post West Ham manager Julen Lopetegui blames Ghana for Kudus’ red card first appeared on 3News.

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