DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Ghana coach Otto Addo has been impressed with Son Heung-min ever since he coached the South Korea ahead on the youth stage.
The 2 might be reunited on Monday when Ghana meets South Korea in Group H on the World Cup at Training Metropolis Stadium.
Addo was working for German membership Hamburg when he first encountered Son, who he really useful for the primary group.
“He’s very, very disciplined. So he turned so good as a result of he labored arduous for it. That is what I hoped for, and I anticipated it,” Addo mentioned Sunday earlier than the match.
He added with a smile: “I at all times want him all the most effective, besides tomorrow.”
Son and the South Koreans challenged Uruguay of their robust Group H opener, coming away with a 0-0 draw.
Son personified that bravery, carrying a masks to guard a damaged left eye socket and cheered on by followers carrying Batman masks. He was injured enjoying for Tottenham on Nov. 2 in a Champions League match towards Marseille that restricted his coaching within the runup to the World Cup.
“It’s not about being concerned or not so far as Son is anxious, he was just lately injured and he was attempting to really feel snug with the face masks,” South Korea coach Paulo Bento mentioned. “He wanted to really feel comfy along with his teammates and his opponents.”
Bento mentioned winger Hwang Hee-chan was nonetheless fighting a hamstring damage and wouldn’t play towards Canada.
Addo, who performed for Ghana, is one among 5 African coaches main the 5 African groups on the World Cup in Qatar. He joins Cameroon’s Rigobert Track, Senegal’s Aliou Cisse, Morocco’s Walid Regragui and Tunisia’s Jalel Kadri.
“I believe this can be a very huge step for Africa. Within the earlier years, there weren’t so many coaches, so its a giant activity for Africa to develop extra coaches — not solely to teach African groups, however to teach different groups, groups in Europe, and I believe the world is missing this,” Addo mentioned.
Ghana heads into Tuesday’s match towards South Korea after losing to Portugal 3-2 in its opener. All 5 of the African groups had been winless of their first group matches, however Tunisia rebounded with a victory over Qatar in its second sport.
“Everyone nonetheless has possibilities, some extra, some much less, however I’m hoping and praying at the least one or two (African) groups can advance to the following stage,” mentioned Addo, who performed for Ghana when the nation made its first look within the World Cup in 2006.
On the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Ghana turned the third African nation to make it to the quarterfinals. No African group has reached the semifinals at soccer’s greatest match.
The Black Stars are the youngest group on the World Cup, with a median age of 24 years, 4 months. So it was encouraging that they held their very own towards Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo, whose Sixty fifth-minute penalty made him the primary male participant to attain at 5 World Cups.
Afterward, Addo called the penalty “a special gift from the referee” however on Sunday he was keen to maneuver on.
“It’s up to now,” he mentioned. “It’s gone. It’s over. We are able to’t change it.”
Veteran captain Andre Ayew and Osman Bukari scored for Ghana towards Portugal. Ayew was additionally on the Ghana group that went to the quarterfinals on the 2010 World Cup. Ghana was eradicated within the group stage on the 2014 match, and didn’t make the sector for Russia in 2018.
“After all we’re conscious they’ve high-quality gamers, Andre Ayew is one among them with all of the expertise he has over time,” Bento mentioned. “After all we have to neutralize these (good) gamers and he’s very skillful with quite a lot of expertise. However we have to view Ghana as a collective.”
With the win, Portugal leads Group H going into the second set of group matches. Ghana sits on the backside and can be eradicated if it loses to South Korea.
South Korea is making its sixth straight World Cup look. The group misplaced to Turkey within the third-place match as co-hosts on the 2002 World Cup.
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AP World Cup protection: https://apnews.com/hub/world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
