During the build-up to the crucial Group H clash between Ghana and Uruguay, television cameras inside the Al Janoub Stadium panned to a Ghanaian fan who was holding up a placard which said “Revenge for 2010.’
When the World Cup group-stage draw was made in April, this fixture immediately jumped out. Ghana were being given the chance to banish the demons of 2010, when they were agonisingly knocked out of the quarter-finals by Uruguay on penalties.
Advertisement
In the final moments of extra-time that night, Asamoah Gyan hit the crossbar with a spot-kick awarded after Luis Suarez had slapped Dominic Adiyiah’s header away from goal with his hand and got sent off. Had Adiyiah or Gyan scored, Ghana would surely have won and become the first African side to reach the semi-finals of a World Cup.
The country’s president Nana Akufo-Addo also spoke about getting “revenge” in Qatar following the draw. Head coach Otto Addo told his squad to forget the past, but those wounds are far from healed.
There was tension evident from the start here.
As Suarez, the Uruguay captain, made his way down the line he came to Jordan Ayew, one of Ghana’s senior players. Ayew refused to even make eye contact as Suarez clasped his hand.
This fixture was never going to be about intricate or clever tactical approaches. It was dripping with emotion and would hinge on which side managed to remain calm. Uruguay had drawn first blood the day before, when they selected Suarez for media duties. It was a Machiavellian act which stoked the tension.
He was asked by a reporter if he expected to be targeted by Ghana’s players, a bit of payback for that infamous incident 12 years ago.
“I haven’t thought about that. Things get misinterpreted,” Suarez said. “I don’t know what has been said. It’s likely that the players who are talking about revenge were eight years old and don’t remember what happened. They probably saw videos of me. They were 12 years old and they heard the people saying, ‘Why’d he do that? He’s a devil’.’ Everything that’s said shouldn’t be misinterpreted.”
He went on to add “you can live in the past and think about revenge because there could be a time when it backfires”.
Suarez must have known that the Ghanaian supporters would boo and whistle every time he touched the ball. But a player like him, a vastly experienced footballer who is accustomed to riling up his opponents and their fans, was surely motivated by the extra attention.
Advertisement
It was clear in the first half that Suarez was revelling in the moment, and his own villainy. That much was evident when Andre Ayew, Jordan’s brother and the only member of that 2010 World Cup squad to also be in the 26 for Qatar, emulated Gyan by missing his own penalty. This time, it was saved.
Initially, it had not been given, the referee signalling for offside; the subsequent overturning of that decision by the Video Assistant Referee saw Suarez take centre-stage with his protests.
Shortly after, in the 26th minute, Uruguay had the lead, and Suarez was again at the heart of it. His shot was parried away by goalkeeper Lawrence At-Zigi, but Giorgian de Arrascaeta was there to head the ball into the empty net. Suarez celebrated wildly in front of a large contingent of Ghanaian fans.
Uruguay were flying now. They had finally found the form that had been missing in their two previous group matches, a 0-0 draw with South Korea and a 2-0 loss to Portugal. Suarez did not start the latter match, Uruguay’s manager Diego Alonso preferring fellow veteran Edinson Cavani. Against Ghana, with everything at stake, Alonso selected Suarez and it paid off.
By now, the 35-year-old former Liverpool, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid striker was enjoying himself. As the half was about to end, he nutmegged Inaki Williams near the touchline and raced towards goal. The danger was averted, but in that moment Suarez, the devil, as Ghanaians remember him, had become their nightmare once again.
In the second half, however, tensions were turned up again.
With South Korea and Portugal at 1-1 in the group’s other match being played at the same time, and knowing that one goal for the former would knock them out, Uruguay’s tempers began to fray.
Two penalty claims were ignored, with one – on Darwin Nunez – so enraging Suarez that he kicked the ball away, earning a yellow card. The Ghanaians and many neutrals roared with approval.
Perhaps sensing that Suarez’s fuse was beginning to burn out, Alonso replaced him with Cavani in the 66th minute. Suarez walked off the pitch to chants of “Lucho! Lucho! Olé, olé, olé!” by the Uruguayan supporters.
Consigned to the bench, Suarez could only watch as the drama unfolded.
There was another failed penalty shout, after Cavani appeared to be brought down by Daniel Amartey. And then, for Uruguay, disaster: news came through that Wolverhampton Wanderers striker Hwang Hee-chan had scored in added time for South Korea, who now led Portugal 2-1.
Advertisement
Uruguay were heading out — level with the Koreans on points, goal difference and head-to-head but behind 4-2 on goals scored — and when the score flashed on the stadium’s digital screens, the air was thick with the cheers of Ghana supporters, who were determined to enjoy their rivals’ discomfort. Cameras caught Suarez’s stunned reaction — and the Ghanaians celebrated again.
Uruguay did come close to scoring in stoppage time when Cavani broke through on goal and played a ball to the near post, but the man who would surely have applied the finishing touch, Suarez, could only watch on from the bench.
In the dying seconds, Suarez took up the role of coach, urging his team-mates to make one last effort, in scenes reminiscent of Cristiano Ronaldo assuming touchline control of Portugal in the final of Euro 2016 after being forced off through injury. Unlike with Ronaldo that night, however, it was all to no avail.
Referee Daniel Siebert blew the whistle to end the match, and quite possibly, Suarez’s stellar international career.
Alonso stood frozen on the touchline, shell-shocked at the result. Uruguay players hounded Siebert and the other match officials. They tugged at the German ref’s arm and screamed in his ear. Defender Jose Maria Gimenez had to be physically restrained as Siebert escaped down the tunnel.
Suarez, for his part, could only sob on the bench.
Uruguay were out of the 2022 World Cup, and they were not going quietly.
Images later showed Cavani knocking the VAR monitor to the ground as he walked off the pitch.
Football’s ultimate mischief-makers had their party spoiled for once, although Suarez, for his part, did not seem to be involved in any troublemaking. He was simply too distraught.
During the post-match press conference, Alonso was asked in English to explain what had occurred after the final whistle and why his players were so angry. He held the earpiece that managers use to listen to the FIFA interpreter, then gestured as if it was not working. The question was repeated, with the same result.
Advertisement
“We are out because of Portugal’s penalty (in stoppage time that turned a 1-0 lead over Uruguay into a 2-0 win) and because of goal differential,” he later said. “We are out because of that penalty that was awarded in extra time, which according to FIFA was not a penalty.”
In the mixed zone, most of Uruguay’s players walked quickly past the reporters. Federico Valverde stopped, but only reluctantly.
“We’re sad. There’s a lot of sadness,” the midfielder said. Asked if he had a problem with Siebert, Valverde answered sharply: “No. There are no problems with the referee.”
Suarez had a different opinion.
“I saw a penalty on Cavani as they cut off his run,” Suarez said. “Edi gets his body in front. And the one on Darwin was super-clear, too. It’s not an excuse, but they are whistling some unbelievable penalties at this World Cup — unbelievable decisions are being made.”
To go out of the World Cup after the group stage is a massive failure for Uruguay. Alonso may have jeopardised his future too and that of one of the national team’s great generations.
Ghana had nothing to celebrate either as they are also going home. This will go down as one of the lowest moments in their recent football history, even if watching Uruguay get eliminated and implode prompted sections of their supporters to celebrate.
Amartey said he “didn’t care about 2010” because “we are a new generation”, but he could not resist a sly dig in the aftermath.
“We saw it (the South Korea-Portugal result) on the screen,” Amartey told The Athletic. “If we can’t go (through), they can’t go. (That was important) for me.”
When Ghana’s disappointment subsides, they will find enough evidence in their performances in Qatar to give themselves hope for the future. Addo will step down as head coach to return to his role on the staff at German club Borussia Dortmund, and his replacement will inherit a young, promising squad that can be built around the electric talent of Mohammed Kudus.
Advertisement
Suarez’s future is easier to predict.
He turns 36 next month and his career is winding down back in Uruguay at Nacional, his boyhood club in the capital Montevideo.
If this does turn out to be his final appearance at a World Cup, he can rest assured his place in the competition’s history books is secured.
He played the role of a villain perfectly against Ghana here, but it all still ended in tears.
Ghana’s revenge mission failed, but they were the ones left smiling.
(Top photo: Maja Hitij – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)