Ghana's 2010 World Cup exit still haunts midfielder Andre Ayew

Published on: 26 July 2013
Ghana's 2010 World Cup exit still haunts midfielder Andre Ayew
Andre Ayew consoles Asamoah Gyan after Ghana's exit at the 2010 World Cup.

Andre Ayew is struggling to get over Ghana's painful quarter-final exit at the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals in South Africa.

The Black Stars were eliminated by Uruguay on penalties after both sides tied 1-1 after regulation and extra-time.

Before that, Asamoah Gyan had smashed a last-minute penalty into the cross-bar in injury time of the second half of extra time.

This was after Luis Suarez blocked Dominic Adiyiah's goal-bound header with his hand.

"No, it’s not been forgotten and perhaps it never will," the Marseille midfielder told FIFA.com.

"The hardest thing is the way we were knocked out. If you lose a match because they’re the better team then that’s that, you can put it behind you. But I think that the way things panned out, we deserved to be in the semi-finals."

Ghana lost 4-2 on spot-kicks after Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera saved two penalties before Sebastian Abreu converted the winner.

Ayew, who missed the match due to yellow card suspension, said: "Of course, for a moment we all thought it: we all already saw ourselves in the semi-finals.

"We already felt like we were on our way once Sulley Muntari opened the scoring from 40 metres out [on the stroke of half-time].

"Even when they levelled [via Diego Forlan on 55 minutes] we never stopped believing and, once we got that penalty, we thought ‘that’s that, we’re through’. What’s more, Gyan is a penalty specialist. But there you go – the ball hit the bar and went over."

Ayew is expected to return to the Ghana squad for September's final African Group D 2014 World Cup qualifier against Zambia at home.

He recently ended his temporary retirement from the Black Stars after angrily quitting following his exclusion from Ghana's squad for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

 

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