JAKARTA - South Korea should have won their first game against Uruguay for being a better and more pressing team. Their shortcomings are less clinical.
Now, facing Ghana, Korea must rediscover clinical elements in its attacks, although Ghana will also undergo this match with a relatively similar correction to Korea.
Playing in their eleventh World Cup, South Korea started their adventure in the World Cup with a 0-0 draw against Uruguay. At that time their game lived a lot.
However, despite creating many chances, they have shortcomings in completing opportunities until none of their opportunities are on target.
South Korea tends to rely too much on attacking midfielder and captain Son Heung-min, who slowly re-adapted after recent facial surgery. But in that first game Son had little impact on his team.
However, coach Paulo Bento is pleased with the aggressiveness shown by his squad against experienced Uruguay.
Bento now hopes that his team will show the same profile of the game when responding to Ghana's challenges tonight, and Portugal four days after that.
Korea drew without a draw against Uruguay to share a point in the Group H standings which Portugal culminated in after beating Ghana 3-2.
For the match at the Education City Stadium at Al Rayyan, Bento hoped that Cema would look forward to the readiness of defender Kim Min-jae after suffering an injury in the opening match.
As Ghana, the first African team to score in the 2022 World Cup, should enter the arena with great pride and confidence.
That's because when they fought Portugal they played well and were confident, especially in the second half.
Ghana reached the 2010 World Cup quarter-finals and they certainly want to repeat that achievement at the Qatar World Cup. In order to achieve this, they inevitably have to beat South Korea because if they lose it is not only closing that opportunity, but it can also be the door to lift suitcases faster than this tournament.
After making a sad appearance in this year's Africa Cup of Nations where they were eliminated in the group stage after collecting just one point, Ghana hopes to run all the football scenarios much brighter and more brilliant.
"Now we have to win and we are under pressure, but so are they," Ghanaian coach Otto Addo said.
Meanwhile, their captain, Andre Ayew, believes Ghana will succeed because so far he has always come out of a difficult situation.
"We have to stay calm, relax, and improve our performance. We have to try to score more goals and avoid conceding," said the 32-year-old.
Predictions of the first eleven players
South Korea (4-2-3-1): Kim Seung-gyu; Kim Moon-hwan, Kim Min-jae, Kim Young-gwon, Kim Jin-su; Jung Woo-young, Hwang In-beom; Na Sang-ho, Lee Jae-sung, Son Heung-min; Hwang Ui-jo.
Ghana (4-2-3-1): Lawrence Ati Zigi; Alidu Seidu, Daniel Amartey, Alexander Djiku, Baba Rahman; Thomas Partey, Sales Abdul Samed; Osman Bukari, Mohammed Kudus, Andre Ayew; Inaki Williams.
Important statistics of both teams
Ghana led the winning statistics losing 4-3 in seven meetings with South Korea before, and all of them occurred in international friendly matches.
The two countries first met in 1982 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, ahead of the 2014 Brazilian World Cup in which Ghana won 4-0 thanks to Jordan Ayew's hat trick.
South Korea was the only Asian country to reach the semifinals of the World Cup when it hosted the 2002 edition, while Ghana was one of three African countries that went further than just the group stage until it reached the quarter-finals in 2010.
South Korea is the Asian team that has appeared the most in the World Cup finals with eleven appearances. The first they made was in the 1954 edition, but since 1986 they have entered the finals 10 times in a row.
Ghana is the third African team to face South Korea in a World Cup tournament. They were offset by Nigeria in 2006 and lost to Algeria in 2014.
The only AFC team that Ghana had ever faced before was Australia at the 2010 World Cup when it ended in a 1-1 draw.
Ghana first appeared in the World Cup in 2006 and this final round is the fourth time for Ghana.
The Black Star won its fourth African Cup before qualifying for its first World Cup finals.
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