World Cup: Ghana-Uruguay grudge match reveals attraction of the villain

These of us who had been within the stands in Johannesburg that winter’s night in 2010 can nonetheless see the second earlier than us.

It’s the final minute of additional time within the World Cup quarter-final. A Ghanaian header is flying in direction of Uruguay’s objective, seemingly destined to be the profitable strike that can for the primary time put an African group within the final 4 of a World Cup.

However then Uruguay’s sensible younger ahead Luis Suárez throws up his palms and blocks it on the goalline. The referee sends him off and awards Ghana a penalty.

Their captain, Stephen Appiah, palms the ball to Asamoah Gyan, saying: “Make the entire of Africa proud.” That had additionally been Nelson Mandela’s prematch message to Ghana’s Black Stars: “We be a part of everyone on the continent and within the diaspora in wishing you success.”

However Gyan’s penalty pings off the crossbar, and Suárez erupts with pleasure on the touchline. Uruguay win the following penalty shootout.

On Friday the 2 nations meet once more at a World Cup, this time to contest a spot within the second spherical. Ghana most likely want solely a draw, whereas Uruguay should win, after which hope South Korea don’t beat Portugal within the different group recreation.

Suárez, now 35, could play, though he has featured to little impact in Uruguay’s first two matches. Spectators can have 2010 of their heads. World Cups are all about reminiscence: moments from long-gone video games cling over right now’s fields like a miasma. Suarez’s handball lives on as a result of it encapsulates a lot in each Uruguayan and African soccer historical past.

In World Cups as in performs, probably the most compelling character is commonly the villain. For many followers, Suárez hangs within the event’s all-time rogues’ gallery alongside West German keeper Toni Schumacher, whose unpenalised karate kick in 1982 hospitalised Frenchman Patrick Battiston, and Diego Maradona, whose “Hand of God” objective in 1986 helped Argentina beat England. Suárez seems twice within the gallery: in 2014 he took a chew out of the shoulder of Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini.

However to Uruguayans, his handball was heroic. Singing crowds welcomed him house to Montevideo in 2010, and the nation’s nice author Eduardo Galeano praised his “act of patriotic madness”: “He was expelled however his nation wasn’t.” Suárez himself boasted: “I made the perfect save of the event.”

In a rustic of three.5mn those who solely impinges on worldwide consciousness throughout World Cups, gamers are anticipated to show an unironic willingness to sacrifice for the shirt.

Uruguayans really feel they will solely beat larger nations by being tougher and craftier. Of their view, Suárez did the best factor. Certainly, his teammate Jorge Fucile tried to do it too, however his outstretched arm missed the Ghanaian header.

For Africans, the second encapsulated their everlasting disappointment in World Cups. After Cameroon reached the quarter-finals in 1990, it grew to become a cliché to foretell that in the future an African group would elevate the trophy, however with hindsight that event proved the tip of the continent’s rise, not the beginning. Senegal’s victory over Ecuador on Monday was the primary time Africans had overwhelmed South Individuals within the event since 1990.

Ghana could nicely defeat an ageing Uruguayan facet that serves as one thing of a ragged tribute act to 2010. Three Uruguayans who began in Johannesburg — Edinson Cavani and keeper Fernando Muslera moreover Suárez — are within the squad.

However Ghana’s defence appears too leaky to succeed in that also elusive semi-final. Even of their 3-2 victory over South Korea, 15 Korean crosses from open play discovered a teammate, the very best for any group at a World Cup since statistics grew to become obtainable in 1966, based on information supplier Opta. Ghana are fortunate to have conceded solely 5 targets in two video games.

Black Stars followers hope their thrilling forwards will at the very least precise revenge on Uruguay. Ghana’s president, Nana Akufo-Addo, has warned: “This time the hand of Suárez is not going to save them.”

However footballers don’t assume like followers. Their obsession is right now’s efficiency. Removed from eager to avenge the previous, they typically have an uneasy relationship with their predecessors, who are inclined to envy their salaries and publicly criticise their performances.

Just one member of Ghana’s squad in Qatar, André Ayew, performed on the 2010 World Cup, and he missed the sport in Johannesburg by way of suspension. He dismisses speak of revenge, saying, based on The Athletic web site: “I simply need to get into the following stage.”

Nonetheless, footballers solely play the walk-on elements at World Cups. It’s followers who give the present its which means.