West Ham United Targets Europa League After Qualifying For The Last 16, Here's The Reason

West Ham United Player Mohammed Kudus brings the team to the last 16 of the Europa League. (X/@EuropaLeague)

West Ham United set a high target in the Europa League after qualifying for the last 16 by beating Freiburg 2-0 in the last Group A match at London Stadium, Friday, December 15 in the morning WIB.

West Ham's last match against Freiburg to win the group once got an automatic ticket to the last 16 of the Europa League.

West Ham are in the top of the wind to qualify because they only need a draw. They also appear at home so that the motivation to win is increasing.

It's just that when they played the match, West Ham was trying to get up from adversity. How not, in the previous match, the Hammers lost 5-0 against Fulham in the English Premier League competition.

This is certainly not a good capital for Wst Ham. However, David Moyes' team was able to get out of the mental burden.

Especially after West Ham didn't have to wait long to lead when winger Mohammed Kudus broke into Freiburg's goal in the 14. He managed to take advantage of an assist from Edson Alvarez.

Next, it was Alvarez's turn to strengthen the hosts' victory. The Mexican national team player completed the assist from Jarrod Bowen in the 42nd minute. This 2-0 score lasted until the end of the match.

The victory made West Ham appear as group winners after having 15 points. They followed in the footsteps of other Premier League teams, Brighton and Hove Albion and Liverpool, qualifying for the knockout stages. Liverpool themselves had already got tickets to the last 16 before the preliminary round ended. Meanwhile, Freiburg ranks second with 12 points. German Bundesliga clubs had to undergo a play-off against a team that ended the Champions League stage by taking third place.

"We ended the group stage with a brilliant record. We only lost once against Olympiacos," Moyes said.

"In the match against Freiburg, we also showed the best performance and should have scored a lot of goals. I am happy because we were able to maintain a clean sheet," he said.

"Freiburg is a good team. But we were able to control the game well and scored two goals in the first half. I hope we can maintain our performance against Wolverhampton Wanderers in Sunday's game," said Moyes, who once wrote Everton and Manchester United.

After going through the first half, Moyes hopes West Ham can achieve better achievements. Previously West Ham had won the UEFA Europa Conference League, now Moyes hopes for the best in the Europa League.

"We, previously, have never been named as European clubs [clubs that regularly compete in European competitions such as the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League]. But now we are starting to be recognized," he said.

"Last season, we won the UEFA Europa Conference League. And, in the previous season again we reached the Europa League semifinals. With a bit of luck, we hope to achieve achievements in European competition," he said again.

West Ham hopes to make achievements in the Europa League. Moreover, the competition in the last 16 is quite evenly distributed.

The teams from the Champions League who came down to the Europa League also did not include the seed. In the Europa League, there is still a strong Liverpool team and Bayer Leverkusen.