Luis Suarez in tears as Uruguay crash out of the World Cup
Despite a 2-0 win over Ghana, Uruguay failed to advance to the World Cup round of 16 due to Andre Ayew’s early penalty miss.
La Celeste appeared to be on course to finish second in Group H, but South Korea’s late winner over Portugal saw them advance by virtue of scoring more goals than Diego Alonso’s side.
In their first meeting since a contentious World Cup quarter-final in 2010, in which Asamoah Gyan missed a penalty after Luis Suarez was sent off for a handball on the goal-line, Ghana once again paid the price for a missed chance, with Ayew failing to score.
Soon after, Giorgian de Arrascaeta scored again to seal the victory for Uruguay, but it was not enough to keep them from joining Ghana in the group stage, with Suarez in tears on the sidelines.
Ghana squandered a fantastic opportunity to take the lead midway through the first half when Ayew’s penalty attempt was tipped away by Sergio Rochet, who had been penalized for a foul on Mohammed Kudus after a pitch-side review by referee Daniel Siebert.
Soon after, a fantastic goal-line clearance from Mohammed Salisu prevented Darwin Nunez, but Uruguay punished Ghana in the 26th minute when De Arrascaeta headed in from two yards after Lawrence Ati-Zigi failed to deal effectively with Suarez’s strike.
Just six minutes later, the Flamengo attacker added a second, hitting home a clean volley from eight yards after Suarez had expertly picked him out.
Uruguay felt they had a penalty after VAR asked Sibert to assess Daniel Amartey’s charge on Nunez, but the striker was deemed to have handled the ball and the Ghana defender looked to make contact with the ball before taking the Liverpool man down.
With more over 10 minutes remained at Al Janoub Stadium, news of South Korea’s winner arrived, but Uruguay fell short of advancing, with a slew of their players passionately arguing with Siebert after the final whistle, believing Edinson Cavani should have been awarded a penalty late on.
What does it imply? Uruguay and Ghana have been kicked out of South Korea.
After a sluggish start in Group H, Uruguay appeared to have saved their best for last in order to go to the round of 16. South Korea, on the other hand, had different plans, as La Celeste’s streak of reaching the knockout stage in three consecutive championships came to an end.
Meanwhile, Ghana has not advanced past the group stages since that agonizing defeat to Uruguay in 2010.
De Arrascaeta joins the illustrious company
After Juan Peregrino Anselmo against Yugoslavia in 1930 and Oscar Miguez against Bolivia in 1950, De Arrascaeta became the third Uruguayan to score two goals in the first half of a World Cup match.
However, history will not repeat itself, as Uruguay won the championship on both occasions.
Ghana’s penalty suffering
The outcome could have been quite different if Ayew had beaten Rochet from 12 yards earlier in the game, but Ghana is left to stew over more penalty misfortune on the grandest stage.
They are the only team, excluding shootouts, to have missed two penalties against a single opponent since Opta began comprehensive collection in 1966.
Facts about Opta
- Uruguay scored their first goal of the World Cup on their 24th attempt, then added a second goal on their 25th.
- This tournament has seen five penalty saves. That is the joint-most in a World Cup since 1966, together with the 2002 edition – excluding shootouts.
- De Arrascaeta has nine goal contributions in his last eight Uruguay starts.
- Suarez assisted the second goal, becoming the oldest player to do so (35 years and 312 days) since Brazil’s Cafu in 2006. (36y 20d, also versus Ghana).
What comes next?
Uruguay were presumably considering a match against the winner of Group G, which is likely to be Brazil, but they will return home to lick their wounds following an agonizing early elimination alongside Ghana.
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