Korea squeeze past Ghana in final friendly of 2025

Lee Tae-seok of Korea celebrates after scoring a goal during his side's 1-0 win over Ghana in their friendly football match at the Seoul World Cup Stadium in Mapo District, Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap

Korea narrowly beat Ghana 1-0 on Tuesday in their final men's friendly football match of the year.

Defender Lee Tae-seok headed in the match's lone goal in the 63rd minute before 33,256 fans at Seoul World Cup Stadium in the capital city on this chilly late autumn night, with world No. 22 Korea submitting an uninspiring performance against 73rd-ranked Ghana.

Second-half sub Hwang Hee-chan had his penalty saved by Benjamin Asare in the 74th minute, and Korea survived some dicey moments to hang on for the narrow win.

Korea finished the year with a record of eight wins, three draws and two losses.

This was also Korea's final match before the Dec. 5 draw for next year's FIFA World Cup. Tuesday's win, combined with a 2-0 victory over Bolivia last week, all but ensured Korea will end up in Pot 2 of the draw and avoid getting drawn with two top-20 opponents in the group stage.

Pot 1 will include the three co-hosts, the United States, Canada and Mexico, plus the top nine qualified nations in the next FIFA rankings, which will be released Wednesday.

Head coach Hong Myung-bo made some lineup changes from the Bolivia match last Friday, none more noticeable than starting Song Bum-keun in goal. This was only the second international appearance for the 28-year-old, whose only previous match had come in July 2022. He had been mostly a third-string keeper in recent years but got the nod Tuesday ahead of Jo Hyeon-woo, who was expected to start ahead of the injured veteran Kim Seung-gyu.

Forward Cho Gue-sung goes for a header during the friendly match between Korea and Ghana at the Seoul World Cup Stadium in Mapo District, Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap

Korea also had a new-look midfield with Kwon Hyeok-kyu making his senior international debut. The midfielder for FC Nantes had appeared in 14 matches for the under-23 national team.

Kwon started alongside the half-Korean player Jens Castrop, who made his fifth appearance for the country of his mother's birth.

After deploying a back-four formation against Bolivia, Hong reverted to a back-three setup, with Kim Min-jae, Park Jin-seob and Cho Yu-min as the three center backs. They were flanked by Lee Tae-seok on the left and Seol Young-woo on the right.

Captain Son Heung-min and attacking midfielder Lee Kang-in earned their second straight starts, with forward Oh Hyeon-gyu starting up front after sitting out the Bolivia match.

This was a low-event match from the get-go, with neither team putting a shot on target through the first 30 minutes.

Korea held an edge in ball possession early on but Ghana seized control of the match over the final 15 minutes of the first half, as they began spending more time in the attacking zone and kept forcing Korean turnovers.

The only Korean shot of the first half came in the 41st minute, when Kwon's header, set up by Son's corner, bounced into the arms of goalkeeper Benjamin Asare.

Some two minutes later, Kamaldeen Sulemana fired a shot from the left side of the box that ricocheted off the back of defender Park Jin-seob and struck the side of the net.

Korea made a couple of substitutions to begin the second half, with Seo Min-woo and Kim Jin-gyu replacing Castrop and Kwon as defensive midfielders.

But it was Ghana that threatened to open the scoring in the 54th minute, when Kwasi Sibo sent a through ball to find Prince Adu for a one-on-one opportunity on Song. Adu beat Song but was ruled offside, a decision that stood following a video review.

Korea started pushing back in the following minutes, with Lee Kang-in's shot from the right side of the box going off a defender in the 58th minute, and Cho Yu-min's header in the next minute floating just over the bar.

More substitutions followed for Korea, with Cho Gue-sung replacing Oh as striker and Son being lifted for Hwang Hee-chan in the 62nd minute.

And Korea scored in the very next minute, when Lee Tae-seok headed home a diagonal pass from Lee Kang-in.

Cho Gue-sung drew multiple defenders in the goalmouth and Lee Tae-seok snuck behind untouched to meet Lee Kang-in's sharp pass for his first international goal.

Korea wasted a chance to double their lead when Hwang missed a penalty in the 74th minute. He was fouled by Caleb Yirenkyi in the box moments earlier and took the spot kick himself, but Benjamin Asare made an easy save diving to his right.

Ghana went down swinging and generated some dangerous looks. Sulemana sprinted into the box for a right-footed shot that just missed the target to the right in the 80th minute. The visitors had another goal called back on an offside ruling in the 85th minute, with Christopher Bonsu Baah being the offender in a goalmouth scramble.