Uruguay failed to progress to the World Cup round of 16 despite a 2-0 win over Ghana, who were left to rue Andre Ayew’s early penalty miss.
La Celeste looked set to claim second spot in Group H, but South Korea’s late winner against Portugal saw them advance by virtue of scoring more goals than Diego Alonso’s side.
In their first meeting since a controversial World Cup quarter-final in 2010, which saw Asamoah Gyan miss a penalty after Luis Suarez had been sent off for a handball on the goal-line, Ghana once again paid the price for a squandered spot-kick – this time Ayew failing to find the back of the net.
Giorgian de Arrascaeta scored twice soon after that to seal the victory for Uruguay, but it was not enough to see them to avoid an early exit along with Ghana, with Suarez in tears on the bench.
Ghana wasted a golden opportunity to take the lead midway through the first half when Ayew’s spot-kick was pawed away by Sergio Rochet, who had been penalised for a foul on Mohammed Kudus following a pitch side review by referee Daniel Siebert.
Darwin Nunez was denied by a superb goal-line clearance from Mohammed Salisu soon after, but Uruguay punished Ghana in the 26th minute when De Arrascaeta headed in from two yards after Lawrence Ati-Zigi had failed to adequately deal with Suarez’s shot.
The Flamengo forward added a second just six minutes later, firing home a crisp volley from eight yards after Suarez had expertly picked him out.
Uruguay thought they would have a penalty of their own when Sibert was instructed by VAR by review Daniel Amartey’s challenge on Nunez, yet the striker was deemed to have handled the ball and the Ghana defender also appeared to have made contact with the ball before bringing the Liverpool man down.
News of South Korea’s winner filtered through with more than 10 minutes remaining at Al Janoub Stadium, but Uruguay fell short of finding the third goal that would have seen them advance, with a host of their players furiously remonstrating with Siebert after the full-time whistle as they felt Edinson Cavani should have been awarded a penalty late on.
