Uruguay & Ghana Defeat Opponents 2-1, Will Meet in Quarterfinals
June 27th 2010 17:57
Suarez celebrates his double
The first games of the knockout stages have been played and two winners emerged from hard-fought games. First, Uruguay dispatched of South Korea thanks to a Luis Suarez double while Ghana had to go to extra-time to find their winner against the United States.
It would be a lie to say that I predicted Uruguay's victory but they were the logical winners in a game where talent overshadowed hard work. La Celeste opened the score early as Forlan's cross flew across a static Korean defense to reach Suarez at the far post. The Ajax striker then fired his shot into an empty net as Jung Sung-Ryong had dove – and failed – to intercept the cross. What happened after that was puzzling to say the least. With 80 minutes still to go, Uruguay slowly started to drop back, seemingly happy to defend, letting the Koreans come to them and hoping to hit them on the break.
Now, Korea aren't the most dangerous team to play against but one thing's for sure, they never give up. And as they probed and probed and probed for an opening, Uruguay's defense – who hadn't conceded a goal until today – finally broke at the 68th minute when Lee Chung Yong headed a loose ball past Muslera. Like his counterpart in the first half, the young goalkeeper was in no man's land when the ball reached Lee, putting both teams level.
Once Uruguay conceded though, they got back to work, putting more and more pressure on the Koreans. Finally, Suarez found the opening in the 80th minute with a superb strike worthy of a nomination for Goal of Tournament. Korea had a chance to equalize before the final whistle but Lee Dong-Gook's shot was partly stopped by Muslera before Lugano cleared the ball as it slowly trickled towards the open net. And just like that, Uruguay are on their way to the quarterfinals.
In the other game, a tactical blunder by Bob Bradley proved costly for the United States as a giveaway by Ricardo Clark led to Ghana's first goal after only five minutes played. It wasn't Clark's sole indiscretion of the night as he picked up a yellow card a couple of minutes later before getting subbed at the half-hour mark.
Faced against an organized, aggressive and fast Ghanaian team, the United States were unable to assert any kind of dominance on the pitch. The few times that they managed to get to the opposition's box, goalkeeper Richard Kingson was up to the task.
Everything changed in the second half when Benny Feilhaber was introduced for the US. His presence immediately brought a spark to the team as his first attempt on goal was denied by Kingson. His presence also meant that Dempsey was free to roam higher up the pitch, causing trouble to Ghana's defense. The US' newly found vivacity was rewarded with a penalty-kick coolly converted by Landon Donovan at the hour-mark.
The Africans didn't waste time to take the lead once again but this time it was in the opening minutes of extra-time. Asamoah Gyan outmuscled both Bocanegra and DeMerit before firing a powerful shot past Howard. With that, the dream is over for the United States and we might not see a “Donovan: The Movie” after all. Ghana go on as the sole representative of Africa where they'll meet Uruguay.
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