Ghana seek revenge vs Suarez’s Uruguay

In the 2010 World Cup quarter-final, Uruguay forward Luis Suarez made a goal-line clearance with his hand to deny Ghana of a sure goal, resulting in a Ghana penalty which Asamoah Gyan failed to convert. Uruguay ended up winning the match in the penalty shoot-out to go through to the semi-finals.

Ghana now have the chance to take their revenge on Uruguay and Suarez as they face each other in the final group H match at the Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah on Friday.

Ahead of the match, there was heat regarding that handball during the Uruguayan press conference as Suarez refused to apologise for his handball 12 years back.

“I don’t say I apologise about that because I take the handball but the Ghana player missed the penalty, not me. Maybe I can say I apologise if I tackle and injure a player and take a red card, maybe I can apologise. But in this situation, I take a red card, and the referee said ‘penalty’. It’s not my fault because I did not miss the penalty, the player missed the penalty,” Suarez said.

Ghana coach Otto Addo said that he expects dedication similar to Suarez’s ahead of the game.

“This is what I wish from every player, to do all he can to help his team qualify, sacrificing himself with a red card,” he said on Thursday.

Ghana started their World Cup campaign with a hard-fought 3-2 loss against one of the top dogs of the tournament in Portugal, before winning a 5-goal thriller against South Korea where Mohamed Kudus scored a brace to ensure a 3-2 win in Ghana’s favour.

Uruguay, on the other hand, have failed to send a single ball into the opponent’s net from all 21 attempts in their opening two games as they lost 2-0 to Portugal thanks to Bruno Fernandes’ double before they were held to a goalless draw by South Korea in their opening game.

Ghana are looking for consecutive World Cup wins for the first time, while Uruguay will be looking to avoid two group-stage losses in a single edition for the first time.

As the table stands, the equation for Uruguay to qualify for the knockouts is that they must win against Ghana and hope Portugal avoid defeat. If South Korea defeat Portugal, it will come down to goal difference.

The equation for Ghana is not so complicated as only a point would send them through to the knockouts if South Korea fail to beat Portugal by a two-goal margin.

Ghana coach Addo would again trust Ajax star Mohamed Kudus alongside veteran Andre Ayew to bring in the winner as both of them have already put their names into the scorers’ list.

Maxi Gomez, who was brilliant coming off the bench in the Portugal match, could be seen in attack to partner with Darwin Nunez.