South Korea vs Ghana, FIFA World Cup 2022 highlights: GHA beat KOR 3-2 in thrilling game

The Koreans thought they should have had a corner but the referee blows for full time. They surround the referee and their manager Paulo Bento also comes running into his face. Anthony Taylor ends up giving the Portuguese a red card. Kyungwon Kwon takes a shot from almost near the midfield, it hits a Ghanaian player and goes past the byline. But that was already more than a full minute beyond the 10 minutes of added time. A dramatic end to an absolute thriller. 

90+7 mins: Cross from the byline across the face of goal, Cho leaps into the line of defenders in front of him to try and get to it but Ati-Zigi palms it away. Desperate stuff this!

90+5 mins: Persistence from Korea. Son somehow keeps the ball with him under immense pressure on the left right by the touchline, turns it in and it gets to Cho who is a hat-trick. He finds space and goes for the underside of the roof of goal at the near post, Ati Zigi leaps and slaps it away. 

An as if just to demonstrate how difficult it is going to be for Ghana, Son receives the ball on the left, finds some space and takes the shot and that is blocked by Partey at the very last moment. 

Ghana have switched to a back five. There is a bit of a break in play as Gideon Mensah needs attention. He is eventually taken off for Baba Abdul Rahman. 

Korea change Jung Woo-young for Hwang Ui-jo in the 79th minute. The next minute, Ghana take off Muhammed Kudus for Alexander Djiku. 

75 mins: Ghana don’t really clear it well and in comes a pass from the right to Son on the left along the ground. He could have gone first time at the near post with his left foot but tries shifting to the right, by which time the Ghanaians crowd him out. 

74 mins: It is Lee who takes, the shot is fizzing and bending to the right and Ati Zigi makes a brilliant save. More action from the resulting corner as Kim Jun-su gets a shooting chance but he takes maybe a second too much and the opportunity is gone. 

73 mins: Son brought down just left of centre and the free kick is about 30 yards away. Th Spurs man is one of three players standing over the ball. 

68 mins: Ball squared in from the left, Kudus turns it in and takes his second of the match. Ghana take the lead again! Wonder who is going to score now in the next five minutes.  

64 min: Blood streaming out of his forehead. He gets bandaged up and is ready to go. That gives everyone a chance to catch their breath. What a match this is turning out to be. 

60 mins: It’s bedlam in Doha, the red shirts in the stadium are bouncing. Korea have turned it around in the space of 3 minutes! Cho Geu-Sung yet again, the big striker. Kim Jun-su’s cross comes in from the byline, Cho rises up highest and heads it in. Two classical striker’s goals and Korea draw level in the most emphatic fashions. 

57 mins: Lee Kang-in’s cross from the right and the No.9 Cho Gue-sung heads it in. The header has come too quickly for the Ghanaian goalkeeper. Korea halve Ghaana’s lead. 

52 mins: Gue Sung Cho with the header at the near post from a cross from the left. He had to almost twist his head backwards to get to it but gets a fantastic connection anyhow. Lawrence Ati Zigi dives to his right and grabs the ball with both hands. Great header, great save. 

Ghana kick it off, they will attack from left to right now. Korea need a goal asap. They have taken off Jeong Woo-yeong and brought on Na Sang-ho

Ghana are top of the table, Korea bottom. Korea are not really out yet but as it stands their fate would be completely out of their hands. They need a comeback of a lifetime to turn this around. 

A game of two halves is something that we say a number of times. Today, it is a half of two halves. Jeepers creepers did Ghana turn it around after the 24th minute. Jordan Ayew has been the architect of this, his deliveries as precise as they get. Son’s first touch when he was free on goal, although it later turned out to be offside, shows that he is struggling to adjust to his face mask. 

Ghanaian corner from the left. Ayew with a vicious delivery and Thomas Partey is closest to it. Somehow cleared away by Korea and that was the last action of the half.  

Jeong with a shot from about 30 yards out. It had shape, it dipped viciously and just about goes over the bar. Five minutes of added time. 

37 mins: They get away with this one. Son allowed to drift into space on the left and he receives the ball. The Spurs man cannot sort out his first touch and so doesn’t get a free run at goal. Jeong Woo-yeong then manages to get a shot from the edge of the box that fizzes over the bar. 

34 mins: Jordan Ayew take a bow. A truly exquisite cross from the left puts it on the plant for Mohammed Kudus to head in. Ghana are cruising.  

32 mins: Long ball taken down brilliantly by Inaki Williams. He could have squared it to Andre Ayew but decides to go for it alone, ends up fouling a defender. But Korea are in all kinds of pressure now. They are suddenly facing a different team. 

24 mins: But wait a second, this is being checked by VAR. Brilliant delivery from Jordan Ayew from a free kick near the touchline on the left quite far away from the goal. There seems to be a check for hand ball, another check it seems for who has scored and in the end, Mohammed Salisu has been given his goal. He just poked it home in the scramble that ensued after the elder Ayew’s delivery landed. Andre Ayew had also backheeled at it and from an angle, it looked that it may have been the strike that pushed the ball in. The ball had also hit Ayew’s hand as it dropped but that was deemed as uninentional.

22 mins: Andre Ayew breaks forward from the left in what must be Ghana’s first foray into the South Korean third since the first five minutes of the match. He sends in the ball and it is cleared off by South Korea. Something is better than nothing. 

Ghana have not been able to string more than two passes together thus far but they seem to have managed to get Korea away from their final third at last. Korea certainly looking far more aggressive here than they did at any point in the game against Uruguay.  

13 mins: Korea have got five corners already, although Son’s delivery off the last left a lot to be desired. They should be pretty disappointed if they don’t go ahead in the first 20 minutes. 

10 mins: Well it’s all South Korea at the moment. They get three corners consecutively and the last of them is delivered into a real area of danger from the right at the far post. Ghana stay alive for now. 

4 mins: Ghana trying to play the ball out from the back but Korea are pressing hard. Korea then put together a counter attack after Ghana lost the ball in their half which ended with the squared ball being somehow cleared. 

South Korea set the ball rolling. They are in red, Ghana in white. Here we go!

Andrew Ayew is leading out the team, his brother Jordan behind him. Son Heung-min has the captain’s armband for Korea. It is all simmering nicely here. 

South Korea’s manager Paulo Bento said that the world will see a a “different” Son Heung-min against Ghana. “It’s completely normal to face some challenges during the first game,” he said on Sunday. “As far as Son is concerned, he was recently injured and he was also adapting, trying to feel comfortable with the face mask.

“First he needed to feel at ease with his teammates and afterwards with the opponents. The second game will be different. He has already been able to play throughout the 90 minutes and as a team we needed to do our best so that we can take advantage of his skills.”

Normally players keep their heads down after exiting the team bus, their sachets tucked in their armpits or one hand clutching their backpacks, and make their way straight into the dressing rooms, maybe sometimes stopping to wave at the fans or even take some selfies with them. Not Ghana. Oh no, sir. They came in singing and dancing with percussion instruments and the whole lot. Ah, the joy of football. 

South Korea did not register a single shot on target throughout their match against Uruguay. This is despite the presence of the talismanic Son Heung-min. Now his face mask may have a restrictive effect on him but Korea will be hoping to make more of his talents that mesmerises the world so often in the English Premier League. 

Kim Seung-gyu, Kim Moon-hwan, Kim Min-jae, Kim Young-gwon, Kim Jin-su, Jung Woo-young, Kwon Chang-hoon, Jeong Woo-yeong, Hwang In-beom, Son Heung-min, Cho Gue-sung.

Lawrence Ati-Zigi, Tariq Lamptey, Daniel Amartey, Mohammed Salisu, Gideon Mensah, Thomas Partey, Salis Abdul Samed, Mohammed Kudus, Andre Ayew, Jordan Ayew, Inaki Williams.

A lot at stake in this game for both of these teams. Korea have got a point from their draw with Uruguay and so a win here could momentarily lift them above Portugal to the top spot of the Group H table. A win for Ghana will bring them level on points with the top-placed Portugal. Portugal and Uruguay face each other next and so a win for either of these two sides could prove big.