South Korea coach sent off amid 'wild' World Cup scenes
South Korea's coach Paulo Bento was given a red-card after a contentious end to their 3-2 loss to Ghana at the FIFA World Cup, with the team bemoaning the 'unfair' result afterwards. Bento was given his marching orders in the moments after the match after berating English referee Anthony Taylor, who he claimed had not allowed a corner to be taken in the dying minutes.
In a World Cup that could well be the last hurrah for South Korean football great Son Heung-Min, Bento was apoplectic when Taylor blew the full-time whistle after 10 minutes of injury time, preventing South Korea from setting up a corner kick.
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The red card means Bento will not be on the sideline for South Korea's final match against his native Portugal on Friday. Assistant coach Sergio Costa said "the result at the end was totally unfair" and added that he did not hear Bento say anything "inappropriate."
It marked an interesting end to what was an otherwise thrilling Group H match, with Ghana able to resist a formidable looking South Korean offence in the second half, despite two goals either side of the 60 minute mark from Cho Gue-sung.
Gue-sung's second goal in three minutes equalised the match at 2-2, after Ghana opened the scoring in the first half. Ghana had seen off early Korean pressure to go 2-0 ahead as centre back Mohammed Salisu's scrambled goal in the 24th minute was followed 10 minutes later by a glancing header from Mohamed Kudus.
Both were at the end of superb deliveries from Jordan Ayew, restored to the starting line-up as Ghana fielded a much more offensive line-up than against Portugal.
“Not even a draw was fair,” South Korea assistant Costa said. “We totally deserved the win so we can be very, very proud of what we have done. The result wasn’t fair. You can count on us for the next match.”
Paulo Bento objects Anthony Taylor’s call to blow the whistle at the last second corner kick moment, Taylor gives Bento a red card, Bento be like wtf man pic.twitter.com/68AU0Fd08D
— Jeongmin Kim (@jeongminnkim) November 28, 2022
Ghana hangs on against South Korea in World Cup thriller
Early second-half changes breathed new life into Korea's attack.
Lee kang-in had barely been on the field for a minute when he helped dispossess Tariq Lamptey and fired in a cross that Cho attacked with pace, leaving Salisu watching as he got in front of his marker to power home a 58th-minute header.
Cho then climbed above the centre backs to score a dramatic equaliser, right in front of a bank of screaming Korean supporters.
South Korea vs Ghana—the most dramatic & epic match I’ve ever watched, the game was WILD 😂💀🚩
— ॱ˳° ˳.⋅˚ʚ ᗢ ɞ ∘ ∘° ॱ˳° (@ayeeenchai) November 28, 2022
List of cards given to coaches at the 2022 #FIFAWorldCup so far:
▪️ Paulo Bento vs Uruguay (yellow)
▪️ Paulo Bento vs Ghana (red)
- list ends - pic.twitter.com/wTcpz5jpGB— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) November 28, 2022
Ghana, who would have been eliminated from the World Cup had they lost, looked vulnerable but were handed a surprise lifeline by sloppy Korean defending in the 68th minute.
Gideon Mensah was allowed to get a cross in from the left, which Inaki Williams missed but the ball fell for Kudus to tuck home with his left foot.
The fortuitous turn for the Black Stars was followed by Ati-Zigi making a fine save from Lee's free kick and watching as the ball was cleared off the line from Kim Jin-su's scuffed shot.
Ghana continued to live dangerously through 10 minutes of added time as Korea besieged their goal, but were unable to equalise again.
With AAP
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