Luis Suárez was crying on the bench minutes before the final whistle. Like Ghana, Uruguay failed in the fight for the World Cup round of 16. The South Americans won again after the Africans missed a penalty, but nobody was happy about it. Twelve years after the legendary quarter-finals in Johannesburg, the Celeste this time won 2-0 (2-0) in Al-Wakra against Otto Addo’s Ghanaians in the last preliminary round match, but that didn’t bring her anything. Suárez was stunned to see South Korea’s 2-1 winner over Portugal after being substituted; his own team couldn’t keep up.
In front of 43,443 spectators Giorgian de Arrascaeta of Flamengo Rio de Janeiro fired a brace (26th and 32nd minutes) for the previously winless and goalless Uruguay to an ultimately meaningless victory. Ghana, on the other hand, missed the great opportunity to make World Cup history as the third African team after Morocco and Senegal by reaching the round of 16.
Suárez, who had become the enemy of many Ghanaians in 2010, provided the preparatory work for Uruguay’s first goal at this World Cup. Twelve years ago, the then 23-year-old prevented an almost certain goal from Ghana on the goal line with his hands just before the end of extra time in the quarter-finals and was sent off for it. However, Asamoah Gyan missed the penalty for the Black Stars, who failed on penalties. “It’s not a revenge for me, it’s a normal game,” said Ghana coach Addo before the two teams met again in Al-Wakra.
In fact, history repeated itself a bit. André Ayew, son of Ghanaian soccer legend Abédi Pelé, like Gyan in 2010, missed a penalty conceded by Uruguay goalkeeper Sergio Rochet against Mohammed Kudus. Ayew was visibly unsettled by the long delay before the penalty – Rochet dived into the corner quickly enough and saved. The German referee Daniel Siebert had initially wrongly ruled offside and had to be pointed out by the video referee about the foul.
Otherwise, Siebert didn’t seem very confident in leading the emotional and intense game. At the end of the first half, Siebert denied Uruguay a possible penalty kick and after a good hour a crystal-clear one too, although the video assistant had asked him to study the video images again after Daniel Amartey had clearly fouled Darwin Núñez.
The sticking point of the game was Ghana’s missed penalty. The Africans reacted stunned and shocked and quickly conceded two goals. Uruguay, meanwhile, showed their best tournament performance so far and acted much more passionately than in the last two games against South Korea (0-0) and Portugal (0-2). Coach Diego Alonso’s side also coped well with the injury-related early absence of Tottenham Hotspur leader Rodrigo Betancur after just over half an hour.
Ghana’s national coach Addo reacted at half-time and took both the penalty-missing shooter and his brother Jordan Ayew off the field. With renewed courage, Ghana caused everything again and were even lucky that Siebert denied the penalty after Amartey’s foul Uruguay. But Uruguay played confidently and routinely until the end, although Ghana never gave up. Soon to be 36, Suárez was substituted after 65 minutes to great cheers from Uruguay’s fans. But upon learning of South Korea’s winner, the Uruguay superstar collapsed on the bench in shock and buried his face under his jersey.
