Coach Addo’s team celebrates
After Ghana’s first win at a World Cup since 2010, temporary coach Otto Addo can dream of reaching the round of 16. The “Black Stars” won their second game against South Korea 3-2 (2-0) on Monday and are back in the running in Group H with three points. The four-time African champions last survived the preliminary round in 2010, when Kevin-Prince Boateng and Co. stormed into the quarter-finals. South Korea, meanwhile, is facing the preliminary round for the ninth time in its eleventh World Cup participation. Southampton defender Mohammed Salisu (24′) and twice Ajax’s Mohammed Kudus (34’/68′) completed the win in front of 43,983 spectators at Education City Stadium in Al-Rajjan. In the meantime, striker Gue-Sung Cho had equalized with a brace (58/61) for South Korea.
Addo’s short-term guest appearance in Ghana’s top post may well become a real success story. Only in February did the native of Hamburg replace the Serbs Milovan Rajevac as national coach and lead the team to the World Cup against their big rivals Nigeria. After the finals in Qatar, Addo wants to return to his original post at Borussia Dortmund, where he is in charge of talent development.
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Ghana’s selection is also talented, and with an average age of 24.4 they are the youngest in the tournament. The Africans sometimes lacked game order and cleverness, but the team presented themselves as much more goal-oriented and powerful, especially on the offensive. It was initially the Asians who caused some dangerous actions in the early stages. For example by Cho, who replaced Jae-Sung Lee from Mainz (4th). Freiburg’s Woo-Yeong Jeong was in the starting eleven from the Bundesliga. At the break, however, it was already over for Jeong.
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Ghana scored the opening goal with almost the first chance to score. Jordan Ayew’s free-kick caused confusion in the Korean penalty area, which Salisu took advantage of with a turning shot. Even ten minutes later, the two-time Asian champion was not up to par with a high ball. Again Ayew, whose brother André is captain and was also in the starting XI, initiated the action. Kudus only needed to decapitate. The two Ayew brothers are the sons of former Olympique Marseille star Abédi Pelé, who has been named Africa’s footballer of the year three times.
In the second half, the South Koreans threw everything forward and had a great chance with a header from Cho (53′), but Lawrence Ati Zigi scratched the ball out of the corner. The centre-forward, whose number of followers on the Instagram account had increased 20-fold during the World Cup because of his appearance, quickly caught up the goalscoring. He headed in twice in four minutes, stepping in for superstar Heung-Min Son. The Premier League professional from Tottenham Hotspur, who once trained under Addo in the HSV youth team, arrived ailing after a fracture over his left eye and is still lagging behind in his form. But once again the efforts of the Asians were not rewarded. Even after falling behind again, coach Paulo Bento’s team had a few good opportunities, but Addo celebrated at the end of the ten-minute stoppage time.
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