Ghana star Mohammed Kudus has commended his teammate for their winning mentality which he believes propelled them to victory over TSC Backa Topola in their Europa League group stage opener.
The Hammers were dealt a shock by the debutants after a scoreless first half as they leveraged a defensive error to break the deadlock in a bid to record a historic win.
However, the UEFA Europa Conference League holders, rallied from behind to turn things around thanks to goals from Kudus and Soucek who both scored after an own goal to secure a 3-1 victory.
Speaking after the game, the former Ajax player who got his first goal for the Hammers said his team’s discipline and determination were key as they kept on with the coach’s instruction despite conceding first.
“We wanted the goals in the first half so that we can control the game but we didn’t have any,” Kudus said.
“We went down but the winning mentality from the guys was good. We kept doing what the coach taught us and the results came afterward.
“The final quality you know we dominated the game but we were not able to score. We knew we had to improve the final quality in the second half, hopefully, we had it.”
Kudus’ goal marked another significant achievement in the competition, as he had previously scored a hat-trick for Ajax in the qualifiers of the Europa League during his last game before joining West Ham.
