Coach Otto Addo is retaining optimism that Ghana can avoid early elimination from the Qatar 2022 Fifa World Cup when they face South Korea in their second game in Group H on Monday.
It was a tough loss for the Black Stars as they were narrowly beaten 3-2 by Portugal in their opening match. Striker Inaki Williams nearly salvaged a point but he slipped after stealing the ball from Diogo Costa during injury time.
Another defeat to the Koreans at Al-Rayyan’s Education City Stadium will see Ghana exit at the group stage in consecutive appearances at the World Cup (also in 2014) after reaching the knockout rounds in both of their first two (2006 and 2010).
Despite this scare, coach Addo maintains a positive attitude.
“Certainly, we have a chance, especially because [South Korea and Uruguay] played a draw,” he, in a pre-match press conference on Sunday, responded when asked if he was confident the Black Stars could still reach the last 16,
Granted, his optimism is based partly on Portugal doing Ghana a favour against Uruguay, Addo sees a real possibility of Ghana sitting second in the group heading into the final game against Uruguay on December 2.
“If we win against South Korea and Portugal wins, hopefully, against Uruguay, then we will be second, so the chance is still great.
“For sure, it will be very, very tough to beat South Korea because they are good, but now we have to win. We are under pressure, but they are too,” the trained stated.
Ghana have not won any of their past five World Cup matches but they rarely fail to score, having netted at least once in six successive games at the tournament.
In their first game in which they scored two goals, the Black Stars started tight at the back defending passionately until they opened up and attacked the Portuguese in the second half.
Asked which approach his side will be adopted on Monday, coach Addo gave an evasive response but assured that “we will see a team with passion against South Korea.”
“We will see the same passion they showed in the last game. Everybody is hungry to play and training good, making it difficult for me to make decisions,” he added.
The match kicks off at 13:00 GMT.
