The Black Stars of Ghana secured vital three points, following an emphatic victory over South Korean in their second Group H game at the Education Stadium yesterday.
The Stars fought hard to record an impressive 3-2 win, which has positioned Ghana well to gain qualification from the group to the round of 16 stage of the competition, with a game to spare.
Centre back for Southampton, Mohammed Salisu, was on target for the Stars on the 24th minute mark when he benefited from a goalmouth melee, following Jordan Ayew’s delivery into the South Koreans 18-yard box.
Star man, Mohammed Kudus, registered Ghana’s second goal after he connected well to another quality cross from Jordan Ayew, who was handed a starting role in the game.
A powerful header by Kudus Mohammed in the 34th minute gave the Stars a commanding lead in the first half, which sent the ecstatic Ghanaian fans in the stadium into wild jubilation.
The South Koreans, who controlled the game in the early stages of the game and had 6 corner kicks in the first 17 minutes of play, could not take advantage of their early dominance.
They either lacked ideas upfront or did not have the means to break down the strong defensive backline of the Stars, built around Salisu Mohammed.
The Koreans came into the second half with a more purposeful strategy, which troubled the Ghanaians right from the commencement of the second half and benefited from two goals in quick succession.
Having found it extremely difficult to open up the Ghanaian defence through the middle in the entire first half, South Korean quickly resorted to operating from the wings, with dangerous crosses deep inside the box.
Lead striker, Gue-Sung Cho excellently outwitted Salisu in the box and delivered a powerful header from Kang-In Lee, who sent in a decent cross from the right side of Ghanaian defence, after Tariq Lamptey had stumbled
Two minutes later, Gue-Sung Cho out jumped left back Gideon Mensah with another excellent header to increase his goal tally and restore parity, throwing the game wide open.
Mohammed Kudus saved the day for the Stars with an incredible finish on the 68th minute mark, when he latched on to a low cross from Gideon Mensah’s pass, which was initially meant for Inaki Williams.
A shocking miss by Williams deep inside the South Korea final third rather turned a good omen for Ghana, when poster boy, Kudus Mohammed wonderfully slaughtered it in, with an incredible left kick.
Having realised that they could probably score from long crosses from the flanks, the Koreans resorted to bombarding the Ghanaians’ half with dangerous crosses.
Their long balls were so dangerous that the Ghanaian technical handlers reshuffled the team and brought on more defensive minded players, to deal with the eminent threat from South
Korean. The gallant Ghanaian defence held on till the referee’s final whistle.
