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After being labelled “El Diablo” – the devil himself – before kick-off in a frosty press conference, Luis Suarez ended Friday afternoon in tears as his side crashed of the World Cup. It wasn’t to be a day of retribution for Ghana either, though, as they are also making an early exit from the World Cup.
Uruguay ran out well-deserved winners on the day, courtesy of two first-half goals from Giorgian de Arrascaeta. However, it wasn’t enough to seal qualification into the last 16 due to a last-minute winner from Hwang Hee-Chan in the group’s other game.
A penalty miss comes to haunt Ghana once again
It was the first time the two sides had faced each other since the infamous 2010 quarter-final where Suarez’s 120th-minute handball on the goal line, along with Asamoah Gyan’s missed penalty, prevented Ghana from winning the tie.
It only seemed right then that penalty misses and decisions would be at the centre of the story once again.
With just 20 minutes on the clock, Ghana were awarded a spot kick via VAR after Mohammed Kudus was taken out in the box by Uruguay goalkeeper, Sergio Rochet. Asamoah Gyan, the only surviving member from the 2010 Ghanaian squad, stepped up to put to bed the ghosts of 2010 but his weak penalty was saved by Rochet.
From that moment on, all belief seemed to seep away from the Black Stars and Uruguay took control of the game and quickly added two goals. Suarez was playing like it was 2015 again and the midfield was purring.
Safety first fails again
A common theme at this World Cup has been the notion that teams who have been passive and defensive have ended up regretting it. So when Uruguay manager, Diego Alonso, started taking off attacking talent such as Suarez, Pellistri, Nunez and de Arrascaeta to seemingly protect his 2-0 lead, it felt like he was playing with fire.
And you know what they say? If you play with fire you end up getting burned and that is exactly what happened. In the 88th minute, word came through from the group’s other game that South Korea had taken the lead against Portugal. All of a sudden, Uruguay needed to find a goal, and fast but without the majority of their best attacking talent, where was it going to come from?
The game transcended into eight minutes of ping-pong football where both teams piled players forwards. In the third minute of stoppage time, Edinson Cavani got tangled up in the box and seemingly got kicked in the calf by Alidu Seidu. The referee waved play on much to the outrage of the Uruguay bench and VAR didn’t intervene.
Not long afterwards, the final whistle went and the Uruguay bench was filled with players fuming with rage, or shaking in misery. For Ghana, while their World Cup journey also ends here, the sight of seeing Luis Suarez in tears at the end must have given them an element of comfort.
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