1-0! South Korea won 3 consecutive victories: Son Heung-min misfired, Lee Gang-in sent assists, the end of the year

On November 18, a warm-up match started at the Seoul World Cup Stadium in South Korea, South Korea vs. Ghana. Lee Tae-seok scored with a header and Hwang Hee-chan missed a penalty kick. South Korea defeated Ghana 1-0 and won three consecutive games, officially ending the 2025 tournament. In this year, South Korea won 8 out of 13 A-level matches and only lost to Japan and Brazil.

In the latest FIFA rankings, South Korea is ranked 22nd and Ghana is ranked 73rd. Both teams have qualified for the 2026 World Cup. In this game, South Korea arranged a 541 formation, with Wu Xiankui as the single arrow, and Son Heung-min and Lee Gang-in as the two wings.

In the first half, the offense of both teams was lackluster. In the 41st minute, South Korea got a corner kick. Son Heung-min made a pass. Kwon Hyuk-kyu, who was in front of the goal, flicked his head towards the goal. Ghana goalkeeper Asare confiscated the ball.

In the entire first half, South Korea had only one shot on target, with a ball possession rate of 60%. Ghana shot three times and had one shot on target. There were very few offensive opportunities and the scene was extremely dull.

The game changed sides again. In the 62nd minute, South Korea replaced its top star and captain Son Heung-min, and Hwang Hee-chan came on as a substitute. In this game, Son Heung-min's performance was mediocre and there were not many eye-catching shots.

In the 63rd minute, South Korea broke the deadlock:

Lee Gang-in sent a precise cross with his left foot. Lee Tae-seok headed the ball towards the goal. The ball bounced off the ground and entered the net. South Korea led 1-0!

In the 72nd minute, Huang Xican dribbled the ball into the penalty area and was tripped. The referee whistled for a penalty kick. Huang Xican personally took the penalty, but the Wolves forward's penalty was saved!

Huang Xican's penalty lacked angle and power, and Ghana goalkeeper Asare had enough time to react. After missing the penalty kick, 29-year-old Huang Xican was very regretful.

In the 84th minute, Ghana's free kick was dropped into the penalty area. In the chaos, Ghana players scored, but the linesman raised the flag to indicate that Ghana's offense was offside and the goal was invalid.

In the 87th minute, South Korea replaced Lee Gang-in and Um Ji-sung came on as a substitute. After 3 minutes of injury time, the game ended with South Korea winning 1-0.

In the last three warm-up matches, South Korea has achieved complete victories: defeating Paraguay 2-0, defeating Bolivia 2-0, and narrowly defeating Ghana 1-0. In the three games, South Korea scored 5 goals and conceded 0 goals. The overall performance is good. All the Korean men's football matches in 2025 are over. In this year, South Korea qualified from the world preliminaries and locked its place in the 2026 World Cup. It scored 8 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses in 13 games.