Matchday Special – Uruguay vs Ghana

If controversy and upsets are your cup of tea, then this year’s World Cup in South Africa was simply made for you! Already, we have seen some of the so called power nations exit the tournament in the group stages (see France and Italy) England dumped out in the round of 16 and, earlier today, Brazil turned over by Holland. This evening’s football, on the other hand, was not about the super powers; it was about controversy.

Uruguay will contest their first World Cup semi final since 1970 on Tuesday, but the way they’ve achieved it will not be one of the greatest footballing memories for a nation that’s won the World Cup twice. Ghana were bidding to make history themselves; a win tonight would have seen them become the first African nation to have ever appeared in a semi final, after joining Cameroon and Senegal as the only three African nations to have reached the quarters.

The Uruguayans began the match brightly, exerting control over their African counterparts in the opening moments, but twice denied by Ghana keeper, Richard Kingson, as they sought to capitalise. John Mensah deflected a corner towards goal, with Kingson pulling off a good reaction save, but his second, denying the in form Suarez with his fingertips,was even better.

After the opening exchanges, Ghana came into the match a little more.  As half time approached, they were beginning to get the upper hand. On the half hour, Isaac Vorsah headed a corner wide, with Gyan following up with his own miss, after being fed through by Kevin Prince Boateng.

On 38 minutes, Diego Lugano had to leave the field of play with an injury, adding to the headache caused by the absence if his regular partner, Diego Godin.

Muntari celebrates a goal even he must not have expected to score

With the teams well balanced, it looked likely that the scores would be level at the half way mark. For once,Sulley Muntari had other ideas.  More accurately, he could be described as being devoid of options and deciding to trust to luck. After receiving a pass around 40 yards out and nothing doing in front of him, he decided to hit a hopeful left footed shot towards goal. It would have been a routine shot for the Uruguayan keeper, Federico Muslera, to deal with, if only Asamoah Gyan had not been in his line of vision.

Seeing the ball hurtling towards him, Gyan ducked out of the way at exactly the right moment. Muslera was left with egg on his face as the ball sailed into his bottom left corner, despite a despairing dive. To be fair to the lad, he would not have seen it until very late and, despite the lack of real pace on the shot, he simply wasn’t in a good enough position to be able to reach it in time.

The South Americans came out in search of an equaliser in the second half and this helped to open the game up somewhat. Palermo striker, Edinson Cavani, felt hard done by when his penalty appeals were turned down but Diego Forlan, the man of the moment, decided not to dwell on it.  In the 55th minute, Uruguay were awarded a free kick around 20 yards,to the left of goal. Awaiting the referee’s whistle, Forlan only had one thing in his mind; going for goal.

Kingson can't keep out Forlan's free kick

Despite seeming well positioned, Kingson appeared to misjudge the flight of the incoming ball. Having sidestepped to the right, he could only watch as the looped shot sailed over his outstretched fingertips into the net. Forlan dispatched the free kick well, but the shot was not into the corner.  In fact it was little more than a yard to the right of centre. I am sure that Kingson will be watching the replay back tonight, wondering how he managed to let the ball slip by him.

Both sides had opportunities as the game progressed with Ghana looking to strike on the break and Suarez unable to finish on two occasions for the South Americans. Despite the best efforts of both sides, the score remained level until the final whistle blew and, for the second time in the tournament, extra time was upon us.

In typical fashion, the added 30 minutes was a little nervier than the football in regulation, with both sides acutely aware of what was at stake. Ghana looked the more likely team to score, as Gyan saw an effort blocked by Andreas Scotti in the first half of extra time. In the second half, Ghana once more threatened and will feel that they should have wrapped things up in the dying moments.

After Muslera had flapped at a header into the box, Suarez was on the line to block an effort from Ghanaian substitute, Dominic Adiyiah. When Adiyiah struck again, Suarez was once more the man to get in the way, this time deliberately punching the ball away from his own goal to deny what would surely have been the winning goal. Predictably, a penalty was awarded and Suarez was dismissed from the field of play.

Already the knives are out across various message boards, with Suarez being branded a cheat, but if you watch the replay again, you might just notice that Adiyiah appears to be in an offside position when the ball is headed towards the onrushing Muslera. Adiyiah is clearly interfering with play, as he strikes a shot at goal as soon as the ball falls towards the ground. Regardless of whether Suarez denied Ghana a goal, the linesman should, in my opinion, have flagged for offside.

Gyan looks to the sky after his penalty miss, apparently unaware that the Gods have already deserted him

From the resulting penalty, Asamoah Gyan stepped up to send his team into the semi final of the World Cup, only to strike the ball against the cross bar with the final kick of the game. As a result, the game was to be decided on penalties. Gyan courageously stepped up to take Ghana’s first, confidently stroking it into the top right hand corner to level the scores, following Forlan’s opening strike.

Uruguay number 6, Mauricio Victorino, placed the ball into the top left corner to make the score 2-1, with Stephen Appiah placing the ball in almost exactly the same place for Ghana to level the scores once more. Uruguay’s third effort from Scotti was straight down the middle, whilst Ghana captain, John Mensah, was the first to miss, Muslera saving Mensah’s weak penalty to his left.

Maximiliano Pereira followed up by blasting way over the bar, failing to capitalise on the good work of Muslera, before his goalkeeper saved once more down to his left from another weak Ghanaian effort, this time from Adiyiah. 33-year-old journeyman, Sebastien Abreu, stepped up with the chance to put his team through to the semi final to face Holland, and cheekily chipped the ball down the centre.

Sebastien Abreu seals victory for La Celeste

There will inevitably be much debate that comes out of the decisions made by the officials in this match; in fact, it has already started. Did Suarez cheat? Of course he did! Would I have done the same? Of course I would! Whatever people think of him, I am sure he won’t mind.