QATAR 2022: GHANA VS LUIZ SUAREZ

HOW IT STARTED

We all recall the 2010 world cup tournament hosted at South Africa, and how it was a dream-come true for the African continent to host a world cup tournament in Africa. This gave hope to lot of African countries to retain the trophy by winning the competition for the first time in the history of the tournament.

Despite a great performance from these African countries, Ghana was the only African country that made it to the quarter-final and was hoping to reach the semi-final. It was at this stage that the hope of the Ghanaian side was cut short. Should the Ghanaian team won the game that night and qualified to the semis, history would have being made as the Ghanaian side would have being the first African team to play in the semi-final stage of a world cup tournament! Unfortunately for the Ghanaians, Luiz Suarez and his teammates (the Uruguayan team) made sure it wasn’t possible for the Ghanaians to live their dream.

WORLD CUP 2010 QUARTER-FINAL: GHANA vs URUGUAY

It was a sad memory for the Ghanaians as they watched their chance of making history slipped away from their grip. It was an interesting game as both teams gave their very best and everyone was out to win it. The Ghanaian side took the lead with a brilliant long range shot from S. Muntari at about 45 minutes of play. The D. Forlan brilliant free kick at about 55 minutes of play brought the Uruguayans back into the game as they equalized to make it a 1:1 draw, which eventually extended to an extra-time.

At the stoppage time of the second half of the extra-time, they Ghanaian team won a corner kick. The kick was taken and it was a great tussle for both teams, with the Ghanaian team trying to take the lead and advance to the semi-final while the Uruguayans were putting on a good fight to defend their goal. Finally, a good header from a Ghanaian player aiming towards goal, the Uruguayan goal keeper was nowhere to be found, Luiz Suarez was the only savior to save his side from conceding a goal. Although he was left with two options; to either allow the ball go in or stop the ball by all means necessary. But how would he stop the ball, seeing it was too high him for him to jump or stretch out to? The only option he had was to use his hand to block the ball from going in, not minding the consequence as it was the right thing to do at the moment. He used his hands to save his country from conceding a late goal and was penalized for it. A red card was given to Luiz Suarez and a penalty was awarded to the Ghanaian side.

This was a moment of joy and celebration for the Ghanaian side, because all they could see was their team (Ghana) qualifying to the next round. It was a different story for Luiz Suarez and the Uruguayans as he walked out of the pitch in tears after being sent off with a red card and the hope of the Uruguayans reaching the semi-final came to end. But ‘some disappointments could be counted as blessings in disguise’, the Ghanaian Player, Asamoa Gyan, took the spot kick and missed the golden opportunity that would have qualified Ghana to the next round. Suddenly, the tears of Luiz Suarez and the Uruguayans became tears of joy. The Ghanaians couldn’t believe it, Asamoa Gyan couldn’t believe it either, and they were all left in shock as the saw their opportunity slipped away right before their very eyes.

The Ghanaian team lost (4:2) to the Uruguayan team in a penalty shootout, and the Uruguayan team qualified to the semi-finals while the Ghanaian team crashed out of the tournament. This sad moment for Ghanaians; emotions were high as it was a sad experience. The Ghanaians blamed their loss on Luiz Suarez, because the felt his hand ball stopped them from qualifying to the semi-final.

QATAR 2022 WORLD CUP TOURNAMENTTOURNAMENT

It’s being over a decade since both teams met, and with the world cup draws pairing both teams in the same group (Group H), the Ghanaians were excited to see the draws as they hope to get their fair share of revenge.

MATCH DAY: GHANA VS URUGUAY

The day all Ghanaians were waiting for finally came, the final matches of Group H that will determine which team qualifies and which team will be evicted. Portugal with 6 points (1st position in the group) will be playing South Korea (with 1 point), while Ghana (with 3 points) will be playing Uruguay (with 1 point). As compared to the Uruguayan side, the Ghanaians were confident of their team so far, having had a good performance in the previous games against Portugal and South Korea to earn the 3 points in total (2nd position in the group), they saw the match against the Uruguayan side as a two way victory, i.e., have a smooth ride to the round of 16 by defeating the Uruguayan team, and making Luiz Suarez pay for the pay all he’d caused them in 2010. All they (Ghana) needed to qualify was a win or draw.

MATCH SUMMARY PR

The Ghanaian side couldn’t live to the expectations as the Uruguayan team defeated the Ghanaian side at 90 minutes of play with a brace from Giorgian de Arrascaeta and an assist from Luiz Suarez. The hope of Ghanaian team qualifying to the round of 16 became faded as the Uruguayan side dominated the play in search of a late goal to triple the lead. This forced the Ghanaian team to fall back to a full defending game. The game ended and Ghana was defeated by 2 goals to nothing. Both teams (Ghana and Uruguay) couldn’t qualify to the round of 16 because South Korea came from a 1 goal down to beat Portugal in a 1:2 victory which saw them finish second in group H (ahead of Uruguay and Ghana), and qualified to the next round.
It was a sad moment for the Uruguayan side as they needed an extra one goal to take them to the next round. However, the Ghanaian team on the other hand was much relaxed and happy as the watched Luiz Suarez and his team mates cry themselves out for not qualifying to the round of 16. Finally, they’ve gotten their revenge as the watched Luiz Suarez express his disappointment.