My Sports: Clinical attack brings belief to Black Stars

Clinical attack brings belief to Black Stars

https://www.fifa.com/ | Image courtesy: Goal.com - Getty images

It will go down as one of the most breathtaking contests of the Qatar 2022 group stage – a game of fluctuating fortunes, goals and near misses. A game that ended in a siege on Ghana’s goal and a series of gasps and shrieks from the Korean fans behind it as the close calls piled up.

Yet one of its most pertinent images was of a player, Ghana skipper Andre Ayew, calling for calm. Korea Republic had just cancelled out the Black Stars’ two-goal interval advantage through Cho Guesung’s quickfire double around the hour. Ghana defenders were in animated discussion. Yet Ayew picked up the ball and with his hand made that universal signal for calm.

A composed head with the belief that his team had the quality to still come out on top. “I believe in our offensive potential,” he told FIFA+ afterwards. “When I see Jordan [Ayew], Inaki [Williams], [Mohammed] Kudus, myself, I know goals can come at any moment so I was very calm and very confident.”

Ghana may be the lowest-ranked side at these finals but the evidence of their opening two games is they know the way to goal.

Indeed, they have been impressively clinical. Against Korea Republic they scored from their first two attempts. Each of their three attempts on target found the net. Where Korea had 21 attempts overall, Ghana had eight, just as in their first game when they scored twice against Portugal.

It helps that, in matchwinner Kudus, they have a goalscorer with his eye in. The attacking midfielder had struck Ghana’s second against Portugal. Here he got goals number two and three. His first concluded a 31-pass move in which 10 players were involved.

In an interview with the Guardian before the tournament, Kudus gave a quote about Neymar which pointed to a player high on confidence. “He’s not better than me,” he was quoted as saying. “He’s just a higher profile player, that’s all.”

Kudus scored four times for Ajax in this season’s UEFA Champions League group stage. Today he became the first Ghanaian to score twice in a World Cup match, ensuring another first – three goals from Ghana in a World Cup game for the first time.

According to FIFA’s metrics, in Ghana’s game against Portugal only three players – Bernardo Silva, Daniel Amartey and Joao Cancelo – managed more ball progressions than Kudus’ four. Otto Addo, Ghana’s coach, said of Monday’s Player of the Match: “On and off the pitch he’s an extraordinary guy, a great character.

He’s fast and intelligent. He has to work more defensively but he’s on the right track to be a great player.”

At Education City Stadium, Kudus played with the Ayew brothers and, in front, the pacy Williams operating as the attacking spearhead. Williams, whose failure to connect with a cross inadvertently led to Kudus sweeping in the winner, marvelled afterwards at the spectacle both teams had produced.

He told FIFA+: “It was a constant to and fro. We didn’t stop, nor did they. We have players with a lot of quality up front. We’re very pleased as we are finishing off our moves. The coach asks us to get into the box and that makes everything easier.

“We have players with a lot of potential and we have to take advantage of our qualities and one of them is getting into the opposition box and finishing off attacking moves.”

Yet if their attack is firing – and they have already scored as many goals as in their 2010 run to the quarter-finals – Ghana also showed terrific spirit in resisting Korea’s late onslaught at the other end. They spent long spells defending deep against opponents who bombarded their box with crosses – 46 in all, 16 of them completed.

Centre-back Mohammed Salisu, scorer of the first goal, made 15 clearances. Williams said: “The defenders were phenomenal. They cleared early every ball at the end there.” Skipper Ayew concurred: “It says there is a lot of team spirit, a lot of unity and we are ready to do anything to get these three points and we showed it.”

Ghana’s reward is that they are now firmly in contention for a place in the round of 16 entering their last Group H match against Uruguay, the nation who ended their run at South Africa 2010. Events on Monday ensured they will approach that game in buoyant mood.

Summing up a wonderful encounter, Ayew said: “It was great – great game, great feeling, great everything. I enjoyed it. We all enjoyed it. We need to keep the spirit high, keep the devotion high and try to make things happen like we did today.

“It’s a hard tournament – you can see there are a lot of surprises, you can’t predict any game. It’s hard to predict. I am very happy and hopefully now we are in the race to get into the round of 16.”