Ghana survives and leaves Korea on the ropes
Kudus, with a double, rejoins the African team to the appointment
MADRID, 28 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Ghanaian team offered an authentic survival lesson on Monday to beat South Korea (2-3) in the second day of Group H of the World Cup in Qatar, in a match in which the African team missed a two-goal advantage but he knew how to react after the tie for Paulo Bento’s men, who are left touched and with minimal options of advancing to the round of 16.
The ‘Black Stars’ needed to win yes or yes to avoid being eliminated from the World Cup, and they responded to the pressure with a 0-2 score at halftime; Gue-Sung Cho’s double threatened to send them home, but Mohammed Kudus, scorer of the second African goal, reappeared in the 68th minute to salvage victory for Otto Addo’s team, now second in the group with the same points as Portugal (3).
The South Korean side began commanding at Education City, where Gue-Sung Cho was about to take advantage of Chang-Hoon Kwon’s back pass after four minutes to put his team ahead. With counterattacks and strategic plays, the ‘Asian Tigers’ harassed a rival in need and who responded precisely from set pieces.
Otto Addo’s men endured the downpour and waited for their moment, which came after 24 minutes in an action in which Jordan Ayew hung a ball into the area that Mohammed Salisu picked up to beat goalkeeper Seung-Gyu Kim and send the ball to the back of the leggings
Just ten minutes later, Mohammed Kudus seemed to end the clash in an action in which Jordan Ayew, who forced Kim to come out with his fists in the discount of the first part, acted as assistant with a measured cross that the midfielder took advantage of. Ajax of Amsterdam (min.34).
However, the Asian team did their best to try to overcome the adverse score at the restart. Paulo Bento moved the bench and the changes gave a new air to the team, which warned with a shot from Gue-Sung Cho that was cleared by the Ghanaian goalkeeper Ati Zigi.
The South Korean striker made no mistake soon after, in the 58th minute, when the game went into a crazy stretch; Majorcan player Kang-In Lee, who had entered the pitch just a minute earlier, recovered a ball on the wing and crossed for Cho to close the gap. With no time to absorb the blow, Ghana saw the Asian attacker wrap up his double by turning in a new cross three minutes later.
With the stands unleashed, Group H turned around again in 68; Mensah reached the bottom line and put a step back for Iñaki Williams, who did not manage to hook the shot well but touched just enough for Kudus, attentive, to pick up the ball to put the final 2-3.
DATASHEET.
–RESULT: SOUTH KOREA, 2 – GHANA, 3 (0-2, at halftime).
–LINE-UPS.
COREA DEL SUR: Seung-Gyu Kim; Jin-Su Kim, Min-Jae Kim (Kyung-Gwon Kwon, min.92), Moon-Hwan Kim, Young-Gwon Kim; Woo-Young Jung (Ui-Jo Hwang, min.78), Inbeom Hwang, Chang-Hoon Kwon (Kang-In Lee, min.57), Woo-Yeong Jeong (Sang-Ho Na, min.46); Heung-Min Son y Gue-Sung Cho.
GHANA: And Zigi; Lamptey (Odoi, min.78), Salisu, Amartey, Mensah (Rahman, min.88); Thomas Partey, Kudus (Djibo, 83 mins), Abdul Samed; A.Ayew (Kyereh, 78 mins), J.Ayew (Sulemana, 78 mins) and Iñaki Williams.
–GOALS:
0-1, min.24: Salisu.
0-2, min. 34: Holy.
1-2, min. 58: Gue-Sung Cho.
2-2, min. 61: Gue-Sung Cho.
2-3, min. 68: Holy.
–REFEREE: Anthony Taylor (FRA). He admonished Woo-Young Jung (min.27) and Young-Gwon Kim (min.77) for South Korea and Daniel Amartey (min.21) and Tariq Lamptey (min.73) for Ghana. He sent off the South Korean coach, Paulo Bento (min.101).
–ESTADIO: Education City.