Ghana Defeat South Korea : Ghana defeated South Korea by 3-2 at the Education City stadium in Al Rayyan on Monday afternoon during the second round of matches in the World Cup Group H as Mohammed Kudus and Cho Gue-Sung scored a brace each.
Against the run of play Southampton defender Mohammed Salisu slotted home the opener for the Black Stars in the 24th minute following a rebound in the South Korea box from a Jordan Ayew well taken free-kick.
Ten minutes later Ajax forward Mohammed Kudus , who assisted a goal against Portugal , then headed in a perfect delivery by the Crystal Palace striker Ayew to make it 2-0 for Ghana.
Despite the fact that South Korea enjoyed plenty of ball possession in the first half , Ghana who were pecked back for most parts of the first period , rather went into the break with a strong 2-0 lead.
Ghana coach Otto Addo made three changes from the starting team that lost to Portugal on Thursday November 24th in Doha. Jordan Ayew , Gideon Mensah and Tariq Lamptey came in to replace Alexander Djiku , Baba Rahman and Alidu Seidu.
The Asians responded strongly after the break by scoring two quick-fire headed goals through Jeonbuk striker Gue-Sung who netted both goals in the 58th and 61st minutes but Kudus hit the target again ten minutes later to realize his brace and Ghana’s third goal of the match. Inaki Williams had missed Gideon Mensah’s cut-back into the box but the unmarked Ajax playmaker succeeded in putting the ball at the back of the net to restore Ghana’s lead.
Ghana goalkeeper Lawrence Ati Zigi pulled spectacular saves in the 74th and 90+4 minutes making sure the Black Stars keep their lead.
Ghana Defeat South Korea to record Africa’s third win at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The Black Stars have never lost their second group stage match at the FIFA World Cup dating back to 2006.
In Germany 2006 the Black Stars lost their tournament opener by 2-0 to eventual winners Italy. However in the next game Ghana claimed a 2-0 win over Czech Republic 0 on 17th June 2006. Asamoah Gyan netted in the 2nd minute with his left foot before Sulley Muntari made it 2-0 in the 82nd.
The Black Stars defeated USA in their final group stage match to advance to the Round of 16 where Ronaldo’s Brazil reigned supreme over the West African team.
At the 2010 World Cup in South Africa the trend continued for Ghana but this time the Stars won their first match by 1-0 against Serbia before drawing Australia in their second group encounter on 19th June 2010. The iconic Gyan once again converted a 25th minute penalty to cancel out Brett Holman’s 11th min opener for the Socceroos.
The team managed by Milovan Rajevac lost to Germany in their final group match but advanced to the Round of 16. Ghana defeated USA 2-1 after extra time to reach the quarter-finals against Uruguay. The South Americans advanced with a 4-2 penalty shootout victory after the match ended 1-1 after 120 minutes.
Again at Brazil 2014 tournament , after losing to USA in their first group outing , the Ghana team reorganized to produce the best entertaining match of the World Cup by drawing 2-2 against eventual winners Germany. What a match it was.
Mario Gotze put the Germans ahead in the 51st minute and Andre Ayew responded for Ghana just three minutes later with a pinpoint header.
Asamoah Gyan then put Ghana ahead in the 63rd minute with a clever strike that left Die Mannschaft goalkeeper Manuel Neuer speechless but Miroslav Klose’s 71st minute effort salvaged a point for the Europeans. Ghana saw a group stage exit after they were beaten 2-1 by Portugal in their final group match.
Ghana now has three points in two games played behind Portugal who play against Uruguay later today.
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