World Cup 2022: Important for Ghana to eliminate Uruguay, says Daniel Amartey

Luis Suarez, still seen as a villain by Ghana fans for his role in their exit from the 2010 finals, was in tears on the Uruguay bench after the South Americans were eliminated in Qatar

Ghana centre-back Daniel Amartey says his team were determined to prevent Uruguay from reaching the World Cup knockout stages if they could not qualify themselves.

Their Group H meeting on Friday was billed as a revenge match for the Black Stars, who failed to reach the last four at the 2010 finals after an infamous Luis Suarez handball in extra time which stopped a certain goal.

Suarez was sent off but celebrated wildly after Asamoah Gyan hit the bar with the resulting penalty and Uruguay then won 4-2 in a shootout.

The West Africans went into the rematch at Al Janoub Stadium knowing a win would see them through to the last 16 in Qatar, while a draw might also be enough. Two-time World Cup winners Uruguay, meanwhile, had to pick up three points and hope South Korea failed to beat Portugal.

Andre Ayew - the only survivor from Ghana's squad 12 years ago - missed a penalty before Uruguay took a 2-0 lead as Suarez, now 35, had a hand in both goals.

That looked enough to see the South Americans progress but, after South Korea sealed a late win, Uruguay suddenly needed a third goal in second-half stoppage time to qualify on goal difference.

"I just told my team-mates that we need a goal now but they need a goal now, we have to defend for ourselves so that if we can't go, they don't go," Amartey said.

Asked if it was important to deny Uruguay a place in the last 16, Amartey said: "For me, yes.

"It was tough because you can see their centre-back, everybody comes [forward]. Uruguay needed one goal to go through and you can see we defend four against five or three against two but we managed to defend."

The result eliminated both sides and Uruguay's players reacted furiously at full-time, confronting the referee and appearing to manhandle an assistant after they failed to award a penalty to Darwin Nunez after a coming together with Alidu Seidu.

Suarez had been substituted in the 66th minute and was in tears after the final whistle, following what may have been his last international.

Amartey said Ghana did have some regrets after Ayew saw his penalty saved by Sergio Rochet midway through the first half before Uruguay opened the scoring five minutes later.

"It's football, it happens," the Leicester City defender said.

"If we score that penalty I think we [beat] them but we miss the penalty and you can see the game changed."

Black Stars seek new coach after Addo resigns

Otto Addo replaced the sacked Milovan Rajevac as Ghana coach in February

Ghana will be looking for a new manager following their exit in Qatar, as head coach Otto Addo announced he would step down from the role after the defeat by Uruguay.

The 47-year-old former international had taken charge after a group-stage elimination from this year's Africa Cup of Nations and combined the Black Stars job with his being talent coach at German side Borussia Dortmund.

"I am not entirely surprised as I think it was expected," Ghanaian sports journalist George Addo Jr told the BBC World Service.

"Before the World Cup he indicated that he was happy in Germany and he wanted to continue in Germany.

"The messages that he gave out were that after the World Cup he would like to go back to Dortmund."

The West Africans were the lowest-ranked side at the finals but the Ghana Football Association said it "regretted" the country's group-stage exit from the World Cup.

"We offer our profound apologies to the government, the people of Ghana and all stakeholders across the globe," a statement on the GFA website added.

"We believe that valuable lessons have been learnt from our qualification and participation in the tournament and aim to continue with the positives going into the future."

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