Kudus double for Ghana sinks South Korea in World Cup thriller

Doha: Ghana rode on two goals by Mohammed Kudus to beat South Korea 3-2 in a dramatic and thrilling World Cup Group H game at Education City Stadium yesterday.

The West African country led 2-0 at halftime but were jostled by a brace by South Korea’s Cho Gue-sung – two stunning headers in three minutes - that levelled the score after 61 minutes. 

However, when the momentum was clearly with the Eastern Asian country Ajax’s Kudus fired in his second and Ghana’s winning goal after teammate Inaki Williams had missed a cross from the left, igniting wild celebrations among their fans who were shell-shocked minutes ago. For the Koreans, it was a case of so near yet so far. 

South Korea’s Son Heung-min looks dejected after the match.

Ghana who lost their opening match 3-2 against Portugal collected three points with the victory while South Korea are on one after two games. Now, they will have to beat Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal on Friday to avoid an early exit.

“Big congratulations to the team to come back and score a third and then the passionate defending, South Korea put on a lot of pressure ... in the end we were a bit lucky,” Ghana coach Otto Addo said.

“We showed the same mentality today as we did against Portugal. The guys were awesome today and we won the three points,” said Kudus.

South Korea won several set-pieces inside the opening 20 minutes although their talisman Son Heung-min could not threaten the Black Stars’ custodian Lawrence Ati-Zigi. 

The Africans opened the scoring through Mohammed Salisu from close range on 24 minutes. He capitalised on the failure of the Koreans to clear a Jordan Ayew free-kick to score.

Soon Kudus made it 2-0 for Ghana scoring with a faint touch with the head after Ayew crossed from the left. Kim Seung-gyu at the goal mouth had no chance.  

Coach Paulo Bento sent in the Na Sang-ho ahead of the second half to strengthen Taegeuk Warriors’s attack that failed to trouble Ghana. 

South Korea found good rhythm and their attacking edge in the second half and soon they were on the face of Ghana’s defenders. Seven minutes into the second half Cho almost scored through a header but Ghana’s keeper Ati-Zigi acrobatically stopped the shot. But Cho was not to be stopped. On 57 minutes Cho sent home a header from the edge of the six-yard box having connected well the and substitute Lee Kang-in’s cross from the left flank.

Soon, Cho soared over three Black Stars’ defenders to power another header using a cross from Kim Jin-su from the left. Those two strikes turned the match on its head and opened a way for South Korea to go for a spectacular come-from-behind win. But Kudus rose to the occasion against the run of play and sealed Ghana a memorable victory.  

Twenty-two-year-old Kudus has now scored seven times in 20 appearances for Ghana and has shown enough signs that he will be a future world star. 

At a post-match media gathering Ghana captain Andre Ayew was asked how impressed he was with the youngster. "

"Not impressed at all," the forward said with a smile. 

"It's normal — it's Kudus."

"He has a bright future in front of him. We know this, I know this, Ghana knows it now, the world is going to know it. You'll see, more is coming from my boy," he said.

South Korea’s coach Bento was sent off after protesting at the end of the match that English referee Anthony Taylor had not allowed a corner to be taken.

“The second half was totally different. We had control, possession and opportunities to score but the result at the end is totally unfair,” said South Korea’s assistant coach Sergio Costa.

“Not even a tie would have been fair. We clearly deserved to win. I think we can be very proud of what we did and can count on us in the next match.”