Grant’s Ghana suffer World Cup blow after Egypt loss

Avram Grant is confident his Ghana side can still qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia – despite seeing them lose 2-0 to Egypt on Sunday.

The defeat at the Borg Al-Arab stadium means Ghana now sit third in their qualifying group, having drawn 0-0 at home to Uganda in their opening match, with only the winners qualifying for the tournament.

He said: “Anything is possible in football. Now Egypt is leading Uganda with two points and we have 12 more points to play for and everything is possible in football.”

“As you saw my team today, we played good football, they were fighting and we will continue to fight until the end.”

“Now we have the African Cup of Nations to fight for, but after that, I can assure you that we have a good team and we will fight till the end.”

The build-up to the game was surrounded by security fears with Grant being warned by Mossad not to travel to Egypt as it was too dangerous for him.

However, saying the game could be an opportunity to help foster relations between Israelis and Arabs, Grant said: “I work as football manager for a long time. Football is connecting people and I am really happy to work in this field.

“We are secured here and I’m only a sports person. Football is a game that promotes unity. I managed a lot of teams which have different nationalities and that doesn’t matter at all.

“The team’s security has been at the highest level and that’s normal. I trust the Egyptian’s culture.”