Uruguay, Ghana have 4 more years to haunt each other after World Cup result gives both the boot
Neither Luis Suarez nor André Ayew find any happiness in 2010 rematch
Chris Jones is in Qatar covering the men's World Cup for CBC Sports.
There was an incredible moment of menace before Uruguay and Ghana had even managed to kick off.
During the pre-match handshakes, Uruguay's Luis Suarez made his way to Ghana's André Ayew and reached out his hand. Ayew took it, but when he did, he lowered his chin and lifted his eyes, showing mostly the whites of them. His glare was out of a Western, a revenge plot featuring a wronged hero and a villain in a black hat.
Ghana and Uruguay seemed preordained to meet here, and everyone who gathered to watch expected drama from their crossing of paths. The result — a 2-0 win for the Uruguayans — didn't feel like justice for anyone, or to the story of an unbelievable night.
In the 16th minute, André's brother Jordan took a low, hard shot that Uruguayan goalkeeper Sergio Rochet stopped but couldn't smother. The rebound spilled out to his left. Mohammed Kudus charged for it, and Rochet dived at his feet. Kudus poked the ball with his toe before Rochet brought him down.
André Ayew had looked offside on the initial shot, and Ghanaian shouts for a penalty seemed as though they might go unheard. Then the referee was summoned to the touchline monitor by the video assistant referee. After a tense minute or two, he returned and made his signal in front of Suarez's disbelieving eyes: penalty.
Al Janoub Stadium rumbled, the sound that the instant, collective recollection of an incredibly raw history makes.
Controversial hand ball in 2010
At the 2010 men's World Cup in South Africa, Ghana faced Uruguay in an already heated quarter-final. A win for the Ghanaians would have seen them become the first African side to reach a semifinal, on red African soil no less.
With the game tied 1-1 late in added time, the Ghanaians looked to have scored the winner — only Suarez stopped the ball with his hands before it went over the line. He was given a red card, and the Ghanaians were awarded a penalty to win the match.
Asamoah Gyan, one of Ghana's great soccer heroes, took it. He crashed his shot off the crossbar, and it traveled nearly vertically, straight up into the African night. Uruguay won the shootout that followed, and Gyan lay stricken on the grass for a long time.
Years later, he said he still found himself lying awake at night, staring at his ceiling, watching his penalty soar into space.
"I don't apologize about that," Suarez said before the hotly anticipated rematch in Qatar. "Maybe I can say I apologize if I injure the player and take a red card. But in this situation, I take a red card and the ref said penalty. This is not my fault because I didn't miss. It's not my responsibility to shoot the penalty."
Now, 12 years later, André Ayew stood on the spot. Darwin Nunez tried to dig it up with his boots and was given a yellow card for his cynical efforts. The inevitable pushing and shoving followed. Then Ayew began his runup, pausing in the middle of it, the telltale hitch of an uncertain man.
Ayew kicked the ball with left foot, across his body to his right. Rochet dived and made the save.
Absent shootouts, Ghana had become the first country in men's World Cup history to have missed two penalties against another. Now two of their number would be left to lie awake at night.
Uruguay made the most of their second reprieve. Giorgian de Arrascaeta scored twice in the span of six frenzied minutes, both times off balls that Suarez touched before him. He looked ready to complete a heel turn for the ages.
But then, a twist: Just across town at the same time, Group H rivals South Korea and first-place Portugal were locked in their own battle. The South Koreans somehow came back to win, 2-1, with a goal in the 91st minute, putting themselves ahead of Uruguay on goals scored.
The score was announced at Al Janoub, where now the crowd made a new sound. The Uruguayans needed to score to advance on goal differential. They had eight minutes of added time to do it.
Suarez, who had been subbed off in the 66th minute, could only writhe on his bench and half-watch. The stadium screens showed him in tears as the minutes ticked away. He buried his face in his shirt. There was end-to-end action — a Ghana goal also would have finished things — but no one could score despite what felt like a thousand agonizing chances.
The game ended 2-0, and the tournament ended for both teams.
Only the Ghanaians cheered. They had won their revenge, of a sort. But it wasn't the sweet kind. These two teams weren't like gunfighters in the end. They weren't cowboys, duelling at dawn. They were the squid and the whale, dragging each other to the bottom of the ocean. They were two spectres doomed to haunt each other forever, trying vainly to remember a time in their lives when they didn't have to share them with ghosts.
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