Ghana star Mohammed Kudus is shifting focus to the final Group H game against Uruguay after a man-of-the-match performance that breathed life into their campaign at the 2022 Fifa World Cup.
The Black Stars showed resilience on Monday to defeat South Korea 3-2 at Qatar’s Education City Stadium.
Ghana raced into a two-goal lead by half-time through goals from Mohammed Salisu and Mohammed Kudus, only for Korea to draw level when Cho Gue-Sung scored twice in the space of three minutes around the hour mark.
But Kudus, the 22-year-old schemer, scored again in the 68th minute of the breathtaking clash to give Ghana a real chance of making the last 16.
Next up for coach Otto Addo’s side is a fixture the whole of Ghana has been looking forward to – a meeting with Uruguay who controversially ended the country’s pursuit for a record semifinal berth at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
“We take each game one at a time. We got three points today and the focus is on Uruguay.
“We are going with the same mentality and the same attitude,” Kudus told Fifa after receiving his man-of-the-match award.
“I know everyone is up for it,” Kudus, who was 10 years old at the time of the heartbreak, added.
What happened
Ghanaians have been haunted by the image of Uruguay forward Luis Suarez using his hands to clear away a Dominic Adiyiah header and what surely would have been the extra-time winner of the World Cup quarter-final clash 12 years ago.
Suarez was given a red card for the foul but that would not be the end of the heartbreak for Ghana as Asamoah Gyan missed the resulting penalty and the Black Stars eventually suffered a crushing 4-2 loss in the penalty shootout.
‘Seeking blessings’
Payback has been on the minds of many Ghanaian supporters since the two countries got drawn into the same group for this Mundial.
And the Black Stars find themselves in a positive place needing at least a draw from what will be their final Group H game on Friday, December 2 at Al Janoub Stadium to advance to the knockout stage.
But coach Otto Addo has downplayed the impact of the incident in South Africa. According to the trainer, he does not subscribe to focusing on vengeance, but rather on results as situations are not the same.
“It will be very difficult but I am confident to know that we can win this game.
“I’m not a guy that thinks much of revenge.
“It was a really, really long time ago that this incident happened and I am a strong believer that if you don’t seek too much revenge on this kind of thing, sometimes you get the blessings,” said Addo.
