The Black Stars of Ghana : The Black Stars of Ghana take on South Korea on Monday afternoon at the Education City stadium in Al Rayyan for their second group stage match of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The Ghana national men’s football team were beaten 3-2 by Portugal in a thrilling yet controversial Group H opener on Thursday November 24th in Doha whereas the South Koreans on their part drew 0-0 against Uruguay.
Portgual are on three points , Uruguay and South Korea have a point each whilst Ghana have nothing. Otto Addo and his team therefore need to avoid a defeat against the Asians in order to stand any brighter chance of advancing from the group.
Historically , the Black Stars who have the reputation of being slow starters at major tournaments , have never been defeated in their second group stage match at the World Cup finals.
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.
If past events are anything to go by , then the Black Stars coming up against Son Heung-Min and his friends on Monday , should be motivated by their strong second group stage matches record at the FIFA World Cup to fight for a good result.
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