For the first time in their FIFA World Cup history, the Black Stars of Ghana have scored three in a single game following a 3-2 victory in an entertaining clash with Korea Republic and they have Ajax playmaker, Mohammed Kudus to thank for it.
On the back of a heartbreaking loss but one that held lots of positives against Portugal, Otto Addo led side stormed into the lead six minutes before half hour mark as Mohammed Salisu scored his second international goal from a Jordan Ayew free-kick.
The lead was doubled ten minutes later as Jordan Ayew, again, sent a delicious cross into the area. Making his presence felt in the box, Mohammed Kudus kept himself onside and powered his header past the helpless Seung-Gyu Kim in Korea’s goal.
Ghana, in the strong position, saw out the first half with their two goal lead, preventing Korea from attempting a shot on their goal.
Korea made a couple of change after the break and after one minute of coming on, Kang-In Lee sent a perfect cross into the box after Tariq Lamptey was robbed of possession and striker, Gue-Sung Cho managed to get his head to the ball before Salisu and pulled one back for the Asian side.
Three minutes later, Korea were back on level terms with Cho getting his second of the game via another header, beating Salisu and Mensah to a Jin-Su Kim cross.
Ghana looked stunned and from there, Korea gained control of the contest. However, the Black Stars were able to weather the storm and from a Mensah’s cross, which was miscued by Inaki Williams, Kudus fired home for his second of the day, and a potential match-winner for Ghana.
With that goal, Ghana have scored three in a FIFA World Cup match for the first time in their history and were able to see out the points thanks to the heroics of Goalkeeper, Lawrence Ati-Zigi.
The win puts them second in Group H and they will now await the result of the meeting between Portugal and Uruguay to determine the result that will be enough to send them to the next round when they face Uruguay in their final group game.
Author: Kehinde Hassan Afolabi
