It was on a Tuesday night the the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa when prior to the game, Ghana had triumped over USA in the Round 16 match when the nation’s top scorer at the tournament, Asamoah Gyan emerged from out of nowhere to give Ghana the lead in extra time after Kevin Prince-Boateng had scored the opening goal under 5 minutes with a left-footed shot from 20-yards, putting the South African fans in absolute bliss as thier unflinching support for the Black Stars on home soil bore an early fruit in the game.
Fast forward in the second half, the Yankee Boys responded with a penalty goal which was sublimely dispatched by captain Landon Donovan on the 62nd minute, putting the game in a stalemate until the blast of the final whistle in regulation time.
It was not too long before the talisman, the Baby Jet made a surging run down the left side of attack, advancing into the middle part of the attacking third where he received a long ball launching from Andre Ayew, beating the American defenders to slot in the winner for Ghana after just three minutes into the first period of extra time, breaking the hearts of the United States fans and helping Ghana advance to the Quarterfinals at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium.
Going into the quarterfinals, Ghana had identified their opponents, Uruguay who had already won their Round 16 game against South Korea by 2 goals to 1— a match which saw Luis Suarez score a brace to add to his already one goal in the tournament.
The day came that Ghana had a chance to make history— advancing to the Semifinals; a feat that the African continent has been yearning for after eight years when Senegal were denied in the 2002 World Cup which was co-hosted by South Korea and Japan.
The Black Stars were eager to have their names etched in gold as they were looking to go past the quarterfinals stage to achieve such monumental heights.
In the 2002 edition, Senegal reached the quarterfinals but were denied advancement by Turkey who hit only one goal past the West African side on the 94th minute mark to secure a place in the semifinals.
In effect, it has been the West African teams who have been dominating the World Cup from the continental perspective, going a long way to giving Ghana the urge to go further in their pursuit at the 2010 World Cup but their hopes were shattered instead, as Luis Suarez’ Uruguay advanced to the next stage of the competition through “dubious” means as has been the mantra of most Ghanaian and African fans with respect to the game.
Ghana locked horns with Uruguay in the quarterfinal round at the FNB Stadium for almost the entirety of the first half before Ghana’s Sulley Muntari struck a long range shot which went past goalkeeper Muslera, putting him in absolute shock as he could only hear the fans roaring like he always heard whenever his Lazio fans screamed after his team scored in the Italian Serie A at the time. The game went into half time with Ghana leading 1-0, keeping African fans hopeful for a perfect second half to see the Black Stars break the curse of “African teams can’t reach the semifinals stage of the World Cup.”
Fast forward into the second half, captain Diego Forlan who formed a formidable attacking force alongside Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani at the tournament dispatched a powerful shot from a free kick with ten minutes into the second half of the game.
The complexion of the game remained balanced with no contrasting effects as the two teams battled it out till the final minute. The game continued into an extended extra time of 30 minutes where both teams locked horns until the moment that broke the hearts of African football fans prevailed— the final minute of the game when Luis Suarez took the position of goalkeeper Fernando Muslera as he dashed away a powerful Dominic Adiyiah header that could have changed the narrative but the then Ajax attacker denied a continental glory as his act rendered Ghana’s run at the tournament redundant after having gone through all the hurdles to reach that stage.
Although Ghana were awarded a penalty to try to win the game, which was tied at 1-1, Asamoah Gyan missed his spot-kick and Uruguay went on to book a semifinal against the Netherlands by winning 4-2 on penalties.
The incident was one of the most controversial in World Cup history and denied Ghana the chance to become the first African nation to reach the semifinals in the competition.
Twelve years down the line, the two teams met again at the 2022 World Cup in the final round of group games. During the pre-match press conference, Suarez after he was asked about how he feels whether or not to apologize for the incident that happened during the 2010 edition and his response was:
“I don't apologise about that, I did the handball, but the Ghana player missed the penalty, not me," Suarez said at a news conference in Doha. "I could apologise if I injured a player with a tackle and got a red card, but in this situation I take a red card and the referee says penalty.
"It's not my fault, I didn't miss the penalty. The player who missed the penalty said he would do the same [as I did] in that situation. It's not my responsibility in this situation."
Suarez, whose career has been marred by on-field controversies stated again that he views the game as a normal one as a professional athlete rather than the Ghanaian and African people who viewed it as a revenge in the 2022 World Cup:
“They are saying I am the devil and these things, but what I did with Chiellini, I played against him afterwards, I made a mistake and we shook hands.
"You can't just keep thinking about the past and revenge because that can be counterproductive."
In the heart of Ghanaians and most African football enthusiasts, Suarez was viewed as a real thorn in the flesh for the continent, seeing the act as an unpardonable one for the next years to come.
15 years down the line, Ghanaians still feel the pain and agony of “The hand that dashed away a continent’s hope.”
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