MOHAMMED SALISU went from World Cup sinner to Saint as Ghana’s Black Stars saw off a thrilling Korean fightback at the Education City Stadium.<br /><br />The Southampton defender was gutted to concede the contentious penalty which allowed Cristiano Ronaldo to set Portugal on their way to victory in last week’s Group H opener.<br /><br />But he more than made amends with the breakthrough goal against the sleepy South Koreans to keep his nation’s hopes alive.<br /><br />Yet it still indeed a couple more goals from Ajax midfielder Mohammed Kudus to see Ghana over the line after a stunning second-half comeback inspired by Cho Gue-sung.<br /><br />For the first 20 minutes Ghana could barely get out of their own penalty-area as they were forced to defend a steady stream of Korean corners.<br /><br />But Son Heung-min’s delivery left a lot to be denied as he regularly failed to beat the first defender.<br /><br />And it wasn’t just the mask he was wearing to protect his fractured cheekbone which made him so anonymous.<br /><br />For Harry Kane’s partner in crime at Spurs was virtually unrecognizable as his team again struggled to turn their possession into goals.<br /><br />Now they must beat Portugal in their final Group H game on Friday to stand any chance of avoiding elimination at the first hurdle.<br /><br />Ghana came into this match knowing that defeat for them would definitely mean they were out of the competition.<br /><br />And they must have been fearing the worst when they came under such a sustained early bombardment. <br /><br />But having weathered that storm they scored with virtually their first attack of the game when Jordan Ayew’s 24th minute free-kick into the box dropped for Salisu to stab home from two yards out.<br /><br />And it was a similar story when Ayew slung another cross into the mixer ten minutes later for Kudus to bury a header from close range.<br /><br />Korea simply could not cope with Ghana’s aerial power and almost fell further behind in first-half stoppage time when Ayew’s corner was bundled just over by Thomas Partey.<br /><br />They finally managed their first shot on target of the tournament in the 53rd minute but Cho’s header was met with a sharp save from Lawrence Ati Zigi.<br /><br />And when sub Lee Kang-in robbed Tariq Lamptey within seconds of his introduction, Cho gave Ati Zigi no chance with his 59th minute header.<br /><br />Two minutes later all hell broke loose when Cho struck again, hanging in their air to bury a back post header from Kim Jin-su’s excellent pull-back.<br /><br />But just when it looked as though Ghana had hit the wall, Kudus struck again, steering a precise 71st minute shot into the far corner from Gideon Mensah’s inviting low cross.<br /><br />And despite Korea laying siege to the Ghanain goal for the entire ten minutes of stoppage time they simply could not come up with another equalizer to save their bacon.
