World Cup day 9 – LIVE: Ghana lead South Korea; Cameroon & Serbia play out classic, Brazil & Portugal in action
It’s the saddest time of the 2022 World Cup, folks – the final day in which four matches are evenly spread apart.
Yep, starting from Tuesday, group games will run concurrently ahead of the knockout stages. Enjoy the madness of the final back-to-back-to-back-to-back day while you can.
We kicked off with Cameroon taking on Serbia in Group G in the morning, before South Korea and Ghana face off in Group H at lunchtime.
Group G returns with Brazil against Switzerland before Portugal take on Uruguay at prime time.
Follow our live blog below for updates throughout the day.
38′ – Offside South Korea
Kwon thumps an excellent strike from range which is touched over the bar and then immediately rendered pointless by a late offside flag.
Ghana have been on top since their goal and now they have another through Mohammed Kudus!
Another great cross from Jordan Ayew finds the youngster in the box and his header steers the ball into the back of the net.
It could hardly be more against the run of play, but Ghana lead!
A free-kick comes in from the left and it drops in front of the goalkeeper, sparking an almighty scramble before Mohammed Salisu thumps the ball into the back of the net.
We had a VAR check for a handball on Andre Ayew, but despite replays showing the ball clearly strike his hand, the goal stands!
18′ – Corner after corner
Just the seven corners for South Korea so far, nearly all of which have been poor from Son Heung-min.
14′ – All South Korea
We’re yet to see anything from Ghana, who have been on the back foot since the first whistle.
8′ – Six-yard scramble!
Successive corners for South Korea lead to an almighty scramble in the penalty area, with Ghana desperately throwing themselves in front of everything to get rid.
4′ – Chance for South Korea
South Korea break down the right and there’s a nice ball in to Cho, who is inches away from getting to the ball inside the six-yard box.
South Korea: Seung-Gyu Kim, Moon-Hwan Kim, Min-Jae Kim, Young-Gwon Kim, Jin-Su Kim, In-Beom Hwang, Jung, Chang-Hoon Kwon, Jeong, Heung-Min Son, Gue-Sung Cho
Ghana: Ati-Zigi, Lamptey, Amartey, Salisu, Mensah, Partey, Abdul Samed, Kudus, Andre Ayew, Williams, Jordan Ayew
Cameroon and Serbia played out one of the games of the tournament in Monday’s early kick-off.
The Indomitable Lions had to weather an early storm before taking the lead against the run of play, with Jean-Charles Castelletto tapping in at the far post from a corner.
But Serbia scored twice in first half stoppage time to go into the break ahead. Strahinja Pavlovic equalised with a header, before Sergej Milinkovic-Savic fired in at the near post shortly after.
Aleksandar Mitrovic added a third at the end of a sweeping move as the Eagles looked to romp to victory, but Cameroon had other ideas.
Substitute Vincent Aboubakar raced clear and scored with a wonderful dink presuming that he was going to be flagged offside, but a VAR check revealed he was played on by Nikola Milenkovic and the goal stood.
Moments later, Milenkovic once again played the striker on, allowing his cross for Eric-Maxim Chuopo Moting and subsequent tap-in to stand to rescue a point.
How did Cameroon come back?
Serbia had a lot more of the ball and at times played some wonderful football, but they were punished for their wastefulness and lapses in concentration.
Cameroon, who had dropped star goalkeeper Andre Onana from the squad prior to kick-off, showed their mental toughness and kept fighting, ultimately creating the game’s biggest chances and grabbing three deserved goals.
Preview
South Korea can take a big step towards reaching the knockout stages for the first time since 2010 with a win against Ghana.
After battling to a draw with Uruguay on matchday one, the Taegeuk Warriors will see this match as their biggest opportunity to chalk up three points.
But the Black Stars will be ready to go after a victory of their own after putting up one hell of a fight against Portugal, only narrowly falling to defeat.
Preview
Brazil and Switzerland meet in the group stage for a second successive World Cup.
The two sides opened their respective campaigns back in 2018 with a draw after Steven Zuber cancelled out a goal from Philippe Coutinho.
A win for either side here will see them book their place in the last 16.
Preview
Portugal will be out to avenge their 2018 loss to Uruguay with a group stage win in Monday’s final match.
A double from Edinson Cavani either side of Pepe’s equaliser saw La Celeste dump Cristiano Ronaldo and co out of the last tournament at the last 16 stage.
The Selecao will advance back to the knockout rounds with three points, but Uruguay could be on the verge of an early elimination with defeat.