Ghana v South Korea: Key moments from a valuable Black Stars win
Mohammed Kudus scored twice as the Black Stars earned a hard fought victory, having been 2-0 up at half time.
See our as-it-happened commentary below.
Click here for all the other key bits of information from the match!
90+11' Referee Anthony Taylor has finally had enough of Paulo Bento and gives him a straight RED CARD!
90+11' That's all for today as the game is over.
90+5' Gue-Sung Cho (South Korea) latches on to a precise pass and one-on-one with the keeper slams the ball towards the top left corner. Lawrence Ati-Zigi is alert, though, and leaps like a salmon to deny him.
90+2' The referee stops play so that a substitution can be made and Kyung-Won Kwon (South Korea) comes onto the pitch for Min-Jae Kim.
88' That's the end of the game for Gideon Mensah, who is replaced by Abdul-Rahman Baba (Ghana).
84' A promising move ends with a clever pass to Jin-Su Kim (South Korea), who hits a first-time shot at goal that rises just over the bar. The ball is off of the pitch and it's a goal kick for Ghana.
83' Substitution. Alexander Djiku (Ghana) has come on for Mohammed Kudus.
78' The referee stops play so that a substitution can be made and Woo-Young Jung leaves the pitch and Ui-Jo Hwang (South Korea) comes on.
78' The referee stops play so that a substitution can be made and Tariq Lamptey trots off the pitch and is replaced by Denis Odoi (Ghana).
78' Otto Addo has decided to substitute Andre Ayew and he is replaced by Daniel-Kofi Kyereh (Ghana).
78' Here comes a substitution. Kamaldeen Sulemana (Ghana) is brought on as a substitute for Jordan Ayew.
77' This yellow card was deserved. The tackle by Young-Gwon Kim (South Korea) was quite harsh and Anthony Taylor didn't hesitate to show him a yellow card.
76' Jin-Su Kim (South Korea) is first to the rebound but his shot is blocked. Wow, what an escape there for the opposition.
76' Kang-In Lee (South Korea) tries his luck and takes a shot from inside the box. His effort on goal is blocked by a defender.
75' Kang-In Lee (South Korea) unloads a good strike from the free kick just outside the box. His low effort towards the bottom right corner is stopped by Lawrence Ati-Zigi, who pulls off a glorious save! South Korea will have a chance to score from a corner kick.
73' Tariq Lamptey (Ghana) is shown a yellow card for a late challenge.
68' 2 - 3
Goal! Mohammed Kudus (Ghana) scores as he latches on to a pass inside the penalty box and fires a perfect low strike, which goes inside the left post.
61' 2 - 2
Goal! Gue-Sung Cho (South Korea) ran onto a clever lofted pass from Jin-Su Kim and easily beat the keeper with a header into the middle of the goal from close range. 2:2.
58' 1 - 2
Goal! Gue-Sung Cho (South Korea) heads the ball low into the middle after a splendid cross. This timely header produces a wonderful moment.
57' The referee allows time for a substitution. Chang-Hoon Kwon will be replaced by Kang-In Lee (South Korea).
53' Gue-Sung Cho (South Korea) rises above the opponent's defence and heads a precise cross towards the top left corner. The effort, however, is blocked by Lawrence Ati-Zigi, who pulls off a stunning save!
46' Paulo Bento has made a change at the break. Sang-Ho Na has come on in place of Woo-Yeong Jeong (South Korea).
46' The second half gets underway.
45+6' The referee blows his whistle for half-time, bringing to a close the first 45 minutes of the match
.34' 0 - 2
Goal! Jordan Ayew hands Mohammed Kudus (Ghana) the simplest of tasks from close range after the cross evaded the keeper, and he makes no mistake with his header into the bottom right corner. 0:2.
27' Anthony Taylor shows a yellow card to Woo-Young Jung (South Korea) for his blatant foul.
27' Referee Anthony Taylor points to the centre spot to indicate that the goal stands after the VAR review. The Ghana players celebrate.
25' Hold on! There’s a VAR review to see whether there was a handball in the build up to the goal. The referee is checking now. The Ghana players aren’t happy.
24' 0 - 1
Goal! 0:1. The ball rebounds to Mohammed Salisu (Ghana) after a melee in the box, and he easily beats the keeper from close range.
21' Daniel Amartey (Ghana) is shown a yellow card.
1' We're underway.
Pre-match:
Coach Paulo Bento praised the united nature of his team's performance in their game against Uruguay, stating: “We, as coaches, value all the elements of the team."
Those remarks also perhaps served to take the focus off of South Korean superstar Son Heung-Min, who put in a subdued performance while wearing a facemask due to recent facial surgery. The Taeguk Warriors will know that qualification remains firmly in play and they can move into the top two if they can further strengthen their 76% unbeaten rate against African nations (W27, D15, L13) with a victory over Ghana, a result they might feel they need with Portugal lying in wait in their final game.
No African nation has progressed deeper than Ghana’s quarter-final appearance back in 2010, although any hopes of a repeat could come crashing down unless they can bounce back from their 3-2 defeat to Portugal in their opener. Ghana boss Otto Addo sarcastically congratulated Portugal in the aftermath, putting it down to “special gifts from the referee” in reference to a costly spot-kick decision.
The Black Stars have the tools to trouble South Korea up top, and they’ve consistently shown their scoring capabilities by netting in ten of their 13 all-time World Cup tournament matches. Another reason to expect goals is because there has never previously been a stalemate between these nations who have secured three wins apiece, although Ghana must work hard to improve upon their rather tepid 37% overall win-rate against AFC nations (W14, D6, L18).
Ghana starting XI: Lawrence Ati-Zigi - Tariq Lamptey, Daniel Amartey, Mohammed Salisu, Gideon Mensah - Salis Abdul Samed, Thomas Partey, Mohammed Kudus - Jordan Ayew, Inaki Williams, Andre Ayew
South Korea starting XI: Seung-Gyu Kim - Jin-su Kim, Young-Gwon Kim, Min-Jae Kim, Moon-Hwan Kim - In-Beom Hwang, Woo-Young Jung - Chang-Hoon Kwon, Woo-Yeong Jeong, Heung-Min Son - Gue-Sung Cho
Players to watch: South Korea’s masked man, Son, could still prove to be the hero for his country after scoring in four of his last six international appearances in a run which includes a goal against African nation Cameroon. Ghana and Ajax forward Mohammed Kudus has brought a bit of Dutch courage to the tournament after following up an early yellow card with an assist in their opener, although three of his last five scoring appearances came in defeats.
Hot stat: Just two of South Korea's last 11 internationals produced a goalless first half.
World Cup trivia: Never before has an Asian or African nation lifted the World Cup. European nations have won 12, whilst South American sides claimed the remaining nine of the 21 tournaments held before Qatar 2022.
