SOUTH KOREA ARE HEADED FOR A QUICK EXIT AFTER GHANA BEAT THEM 3-2
Son's Fitness Battle Appears To Be In Vain
By Rashmi Goel
Son Heung-min fractured his eye socket while playing for Tottenham Hotspur against Marseille on November 1. It was national news that Son had undergone surgery and his possible return by the time of the World Cup was discussed hourly. After training with his Korea Republic teammates a couple of weeks later, he donned a protective face mask, and as he lined up for the opening Group H match against Uruguay, he was serenaded by thousands of fans wearing similar masks.
South Korea is facing an early exit from the World Cup following their dramatic 3-2 defeat to Ghana just four days after returning to competitive football. In order for Son's expedited comeback to be worthwhile, the Taegeuk Warriors must pull off a shock win in their final pool game and hope for favors elsewhere. While they owned most of the possession, cornered many times, and displayed much verve in the first half, they were two down at halftime due to their defensive shortcomings.
From close range, Mohammed Salisu swung a left-foot shot beyond Kim Seung-Gyu from close range after Kim Min-Jae had failed to deal with a Jordan Ayew free-kick. Despite the fact that the ball struck Andre Ayew from Kim's misdirected header, there is no doubt in my mind that it was not the Ghanaian's fault. The players were two up in no time, Jordan Ayew's brilliant inswinging cross from the left leaving Mohammed Kudus with the impossible task of grabbing a glimpse of the ball in order to score. Following the interval, Korea was in need of a hero, and rather than Son being the man of the hour, Cho Gue-sung looked to have saved them with two superb headers in less than three minutes. On the left, Tariq Lamptey was dispensed by Lee Kang-in, who sent in a cross that prompted Cho to stoop with grace and head home.
A few seconds later, he struck again, burying Kim Junsu's excellent stand-up cross with a bullet header from a fine jump. It was evident that the large crowd in red truly believed that the much-anticipated tournament would be something spectacular. It took only seven minutes for Kudus to score after Inaki Williams' wild swing at Gideon Mensah's low cross had caused the ball to travel all the way to the far post. Ghana was rewarded in many ways for this achievement. The majority of their chances were taken by them. Throughout the game, the Black Stars were a better team unit, while Korea searched for inspiration from their one superstar for too long. As long as they received great deliveries, Cho did the job for them, but they began to abandon that practice after his three minutes of magic.
It is unfortunate that Son missed two chances to find the net late in the game, both times having his right-foot shot blocked by Ghana's hard-working defenders. There was to be no fairytale ending for one of the greatest Asian players of all time. For his fight for fitness to be anything other than futile, he will need to be at his best against Portugal. After weeks of worrying about the participation of their star man, a nation will have four days to worry about the future of their entire national team at the World Cup.
