The prize was a Cape Town semi-final against the Netherlands, who had earlier that afternoon defeated Brazil to widespread cheers in the press room. The world’s foremost footballing country brings the most journalists and Brazil’s exit meant that those self-interested hacks still in South Africa had a good chance of being at the final a week later. Gyan missed his penalty, crashing it against the crossbar. He had clearly been distracted by the lengthy delay as Uruguay – ludicrously – protested the innocence of Suárez.
The climax to the 120 minutes made the night unforgettable. Fine goals were scored by Sulley Muntari and Diego Forlán, but it was not a classic, in keeping with much of the fare on show during those 31 days. Luis Suárez’s handball, and the subsequent penalty drama, meant it ended up as a tale of the bad guys running off into the sunset, chortling at their ill-gotten gains. Asamoah Gyan reacts after missing his last-gasp penalty kick. Photograph: Cameron Spencer/Getty ImagesSoccer City, a monstrous carbuncle looming over Soweto, was the venue.
Uruguay vs. Ghana FIFA 2010 World Cup Live Blog
Afriyie Barnieh24Kamal Sowah25Antoine Semenyo3Denis Odoi ☚ (78)15Joseph Aidoo17Abdul Baba ☚ (88)23Alexander Djiku ☚ (83)26Alidu Seidu6Elisha Owusu8Daniel-Kofi Kyereh ☚ (78)22Kamal Sulemana ☚ (78)UruguayWorld CupPortugal 2 - 0 Uruguay23Sergio Rochet2José Giménez3Diego Godín (C) ☛ (62)19Sebastián Coates13Guillermo Varela15Federico Valverde6Rodrigo Bentancur (6)5Matías Vecino ☛ (62)16Mathías Olivera (44), ☛ (86)11Darwin Núñez ☛ (72)21Edinson Cavani ☛ (73) Bench1Fernando Muslera12Sebastián Sosa9Luis Suárez ☚ (73)18Maximiliano Gómez ☚ (72)24Agustín Canobbio17Matías Viña ☚ (86)22Martín Cáceres26José Rodríguez7Nicolás De La Cruz8Facundo Pellistri ☚ (62)10G.
Uruguay 1-1 Ghana (4-2 pens)Uruguay reached the semi-finals of the World Cup for the first time since 1970, but ended the hopes of Africa after winning a truly extraordinary match at Soccer City on a penalty shoot-out. Ghana seemed certain to become the first African side to reach the last four of the competition when Luis Suarez saw red after handling on the line in the dying seconds of extra-time. However, striker Asamoah Gyan, who had already converted two penalties in South Africa, skimmed the crossbar with the last kick of the game. Gyan showed incredible guts to take the first spot-kick of the shoot-out but John Mensah and Dominic Adiyiah both had their low strikes saved by Fernando Muslera. And Sebsatian Abreu then showed ice-cold composure to dink the decisive penalty beyond Richard Kingson as Uruguay sealed a semi-final tie against the Netherlands.
Uruguay brought on Nicolas Lodeiro at the break and the game quickly became stretched as Tabarez's team searched for an equaliser. Edinson Cavani felt he should have been awarded a penalty after he went down under a challenge from Vorsah, but there was no doubt about Forlan's free-kick from a wide angle that drew his team level. Ghana had repeated opportunities to strike on the counter, but they wasted a series of excellent positions with poor pass selection, while Gyan tangled repeatedly with several different members of the Uruguay defence. Uruguay created two good chances for Suarez but he could only guide a cross from Forlan into the side-netting at the far post and drill in a strike that Kingson palmed over.
Suarez's deliberate handball, which came seconds after he had legitimately blocked one goal-bound effort with his knee, was a gamble that paid handsome dividends. It was a truly remarkable final few minutes, surely some of the most dramatic in World Cup history, and came at the end of an engrossing and occasionally bad-tempered contest.
But the South American side, already without injured defender Diego Godin, lost skipper Diego Lugano to injury towards the end of the first half, his withdrawal coming at a time when the Black Stars had started to find a foothold in the match. Rajevac's side had offered almost nothing in attack until Vorsah, recalled in defence in place of the suspended Jonathan Mensah, headed wide from a corner just before the half-hour mark. Gyan then narrowly missed after the industrious Kevin-Prince Boateng picked him out in front of the deep-sitting Uruguay defence with a square ball, while Mutari headed wide after latching on to a raking pass. Even so, it looked as though the match would be goalless at the break until Muntari, gifted the time to assess his options, unleashed a vicious 40-yard strike that caught Muslera off guard.
And from the vantage point of the press box high in the stand Suárez’s solemn march down the tunnel became a sprint of double-fisted joy as he ran to the dressing room. Ghana fans send a message to Luis Suárez at their team’s friendly with England at Wembley in 2011. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The GuardianAnd yet, when the dust had cleared, and a penalty shootout followed, it was Gyan who chose to take Ghana’s first penalty after Forlán had stroked home the opener. Whereas Stuart Pearce waited six years to find redemption for England in scoring a spot-kick against Spain at Euro 96, Gyan was not given much more than five minutes to collect himself.
My favourite game: Uruguay v Ghana, World Cup 2010 quarter-final | John BrewinAlmost a decade on, the 2010 World Cup is recalled as a tournament of low-scoring matches, played out amid the distracting honk of vuvuzelas. As is usually the case, the host country showed its best and most welcoming side, rendering happy memories to visitors only to leave a disappointing legacy for South Africa itself. Every tournament, though, will throw up at least one segue of incredible drama, of unlikely and since-forgotten heroes, skulduggery and adrenaline-surging plot twists. The rest of the quarter-final between Ghana and Uruguay was decent enough.
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Ghana - Uruguay: Predicted LineupsPredicted lineupsFinal lineups are posted before startGhanaWorld CupSouth Korea 2 - 3 Ghana1Lawrence Ati-Zigi2Tariq Lamptey (73), ☛ (78)18Daniel Amartey (21)4Salisu Karim ⚽ (24)14Gideon Mensah ☛ (88)5Thomas Partey21Salis Samed20Mohammed Kudus ⚽ (34), ⚽ (68), ☛ (83)10André Ayew (C) ☛ (78)9Jordan Ayew ☛ (78)19Iñaki Williams Bench12Ibrahim Danlad16Abdul Nurudeen7Abdul Issahaku11Osman Bukari13D.
Both teams enjoyed periods in the ascendancy - and both were guilty of wasting numerous opportunities. Sulley Muntari, almost kicked out of the squad after criticising coach Milovan Rajevac earlier in the competition, struck a long-range opener on the stroke of half-time, while the impressive Diego Forlan equalised with a free-kick 10 minutes after the restart. La Celeste controlled the early part of the contest and their early endeavours twice brought them close to scoring but each time they were denied by Kingson. The first was a reaction save after John Mensah inadvertently deflected a corner towards his own goal and the second an athletic finger-tip effort to deny Suarez, who will be suspended for the semi-final, after the striker capitalised on a slip by Isaac Vorsah.
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Uruguay - Ghana, Jul 2, 2010 - World Cup 2010 - Match sheet
The South African support in the stadium lay with the Ghanaians, in a spirit of pan-African partisanship. Almost as inescapable as the vuvuzelas that month was the Shakira earworm “Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)”, which blared from speakers everywhere. The sentiment of that song was followed by fans of the disappointing Bafana Bafana, willing on their friends from west Africa to become the first team from the continent to reach a World Cup semi-final. Ghana and Africa were to be denied by Suárez’s cynicism.
Dirtier deeds done since mean his deliberate handball from Dominic Adiyiah’s goalbound header in the dying seconds of extra time is almost the least of his on-field sins. In fact, it was perhaps his most forgivable transgression against football’s code of conduct; an act of self-sacrifice. Footballers of any level would consider it, if the price of breaking sportsmanship’s codes was defeat. Alongside him, his teammate Jorge Fucile had made a far more obvious, diving attempt to punch the ball away to safety, but it was the then-Ajax striker whose hand got in the way. My Favourite GameStill, if Ghana scored their spot-kick here they would be through. Asamoah Gyan, then of Rennes, was brave enough to step up.
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