Mohammed Kudus cements status as one of this World Cup’s emerging young stars

This time, Mohammed Kudus stayed on the field. And it’s a good thing for Ghana that he did.

Four days after they fell apart against Portugal following his substitution, the Black Stars midfielder scored two goals, including the winner, in a 3-2 win over South Korea in a ridiculously entertaining contest on Monday at the Education City Stadium in Doha.

It’s the first time a Ghana player has scored two goals in a single World Cup match, and also the first time they have scored three goals as a team in their World Cup history.

“He’s a great player, great person, but today he really did a lot,” said Ghana head coach Otto Addo. “He’s a good player, good one-v-one, he’s fast. He needs to work more defensively, this is for sure, but he’s on the right track to be a great, great player.”

The performance cements Kudus’ status as a rising star. The 22-year-old was linked with a move to Everton over the summer — which fell through — but it has not affected his form for Ajax.

He scored four goals and provided two assists in the six Champions League group games this season and he scored five goals in 14 Eredivisie appearances before the break, which is made all the more impressive as nine of those came as a substitute.

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“His performance… we all saw it,” said left-back Gideon Mensah after the match. “You’ve seen it in the Dutch league and in the Champions League. He’s going very well in his career… obviously, we need him to do whatever he can do to help the team.”

Against South Korea on Monday, he showed all the qualities that have made him one of the top prospects playing in Europe today.

Kudus was composed in attack, offering the second-highest number of passes in the final third of anyone in the Ghana starting XI and providing dangerous off-ball runs that allowed his team-mates the space to grow into the game after South Korea applied constant pressure over the first 20 minutes.

Kudus’ opening goal showed his ability to read the play around him and therefore pick exactly the right moment to arrive at the right spot.

With Ghana circulating the ball along the left sideline, he used an initial run to create space between himself and the defender in front of him. By the time Jordan Ayew fired a beautiful cross in his direction, Kudus had all the space he needed to head the ball past South Korea goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu to put Ghana 2-0 ahead.

Ghana ended the first half with a comfortable lead, but things changed in the second period as South Korea pressed higher up the field and got more bodies in the box for crosses. The move paid off, as Cho Gue-sung scored two goals with his head and levelled the game at 2-2.

This put Ghana on the ropes and susceptible to a deadly blow in terms of advancing out of the group.

“They came with two No 8s and we really couldn’t get the crosses under control,” said South Korea assistant Sergio Costa, speaking after the match in place of head coach Paulo Bento, who was shown a red card for confronting officials after the final whistle.

“We hadn’t put enough pressing intensity to stop the crosses. If you allow 10-15 crosses in the box, eventually something is going to happen.”

In a similar situation against Portugal, a game where Kudus was similarly impressive but failed to score, he was substituted in the 77th minute with the score level at 1-1.

Joao Felix scored for Portugal a minute later and Rafael Leao added another minutes afterwards to take the game away from Ghana.

This time, Addo kept Kudus on and the decision paid off.

In the 68th minute, Kudus’ strong sense of positioning, composure on the ball, and solid technique once again combined to create a goal, and this time it was the winner.

After a strong run down the left flank, the ball came into an unmarked Inaki Williams near the penalty spot. The Athletic Bilbao striker missed the ball entirely with his attempt on goal (or perhaps it was an extremely convincing dummy), but Kudus coolly picked up the loose ball, measured his angle, and fired low to secure a 3-2 result that saves Ghana’s life in the 2022 World Cup.

This is a huge, huge win for Ghana.
With a huge, huge goal for 🇬🇭 too.#BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/jAqOtagVQ4

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) November 28, 2022

“It feels good but it feels even better because we got three points,” said Kudus, who was named Player of the Match. “The whole team played their part. It’s a good boost to win this game.”

Kudus’ performance is expected to increase his standing, not just as one of the emerging young stars of this World Cup, but in the world at large.

Not that any of this has caught his team-mate Andre Ayew by surprise.

“I’m not impressed at all,” he said after the match. “It’s normal. It’s Kudus. He has a bright future in front of him. We know this, I know this, Ghana knows it now, and the world is going to know it. He can even do more. You’ll see — more is coming from my boy.”

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(Top photo: Alex Grimm/Getty Images)