USA vs. Ghana
Day 16
Uruguay 2 – South Korea 1
In the Round of 16′s first match, observers eagerly awaited an unheralded hero to emerge and one did, in the form of Uruguay’s Luis Suarez. In just the 8th minute, a cross from the left wing by Diego Forlan was badly misplayed by South Korean goalkeeper Sung-Ryong Jung; Suarez was there to slam the ball into the back of the goal.
Park Chu-Young was hoping to provide similar heroics for his side, and he nearly did in the 5th minute, when his right-footed free kick from 25 yards out struck the goal post. Then, in the 32nd, he whipped in a left-footed shot from a similar distance that went just wide.
As the game entered the second half, the rain began pressing as did the South Korean attack. Eventually the Asian side would find the equalizing goal, but not from Park; rather, Lee Chung-Yong headed one home in the 68th minute after a poor defensive clearance and indecision from Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera. As the stands emptied in the rapidly deteriorating weather, the game looked destined for extra time until Suarez stepped up in the 80th minute. Dropping his shoulder to deceive a defender, he then took a quick turn inside the penalty area and unleashed a wicked, curling shot that found the inside of the far goal post.
South Korea, who controlled the majority of possession during the game, wouldn’t relent, and nearly tied the score again in the 87th minute when Dong-Gook Lee snuck behind the Uruguay defence and slipped a shot past Muslera; but the ball trickled tantalizingly close to the goal line before being cleared away by Diego Lugano. When the final whistle blew, Suarez’s double was enough to push the South American inside into the quarter-finals.
Ghana 2 – USA 1 (after extra time)
Not only did this game represent a rematch from the 2006 tournament (which Ghana won 2-1), but it carried an immense amount of psychological subtext: the U.S. was coming off of its most dramatic soccer victory ever with their injury-time win against Algeria, while Ghana had emerged as the sole African team to qualify for the Round of 16, in the first World Cup played on African soil.
The players and fans didn’t need to wait long for their emotions to explode. Kevin-Prince Boateng was given far too much time to move towards the American goal in the 5th minute, and made the USA pay by slotting home a left-footed shot from the edge of the penalty area. Later in the first half, American striker Robbie Findley had a good chance to equalize from inside the Ghanaian penalty area, but the shot was blocked by the foot of goalkeeper Richard Kingson.
Kingson made several other critical saves throughout the game, but he was left helpless in the 62nd minute when defender Jonathan Mensah clumsily fouled Clint Dempsey inside the area, gifting the Americans with a penalty kick. The USA’s hero against Algeria, Landon Donovan, stepped up and coolly converted the spot kick, leveling the score.
Tied after the second half, the game proceeded into extra time. Asamoah Gyan, already with two goals in the tournament, deftly split the USA’s central defence in the third minute of the first extra time period and cracked a half-volley past ‘keeper Tim Howard to put Ghana back in front for good. The USA desperately pressed for a tying goal, but the Ghanaian defence held out, ending the American dream and earning the Black Stars a spot in the final eight (becoming only the third African team to ever reach the World Cup quarter-finals).
