A Ghanaian player stands while taking a free kick against Uruguay in the final minutes of the second extra half of the quarter-finals of the first World Cup to be held in Africa. a player from Ghana who hits an empty net. Luis Suarez kicks him off, bounces back to the Ghanaian. The other heads and goes to the net, Suarez pushes him away with his hand, he is sent off with a red card, and Ghana gets a penalty, and Luis is hated by all the people because of the incident 12 years ago.
Ghana received a fatal penalty and Asamoah Gyan advanced to him, hoping that his country would become the first African team to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup and catch up with neighboring Asia, which included one of its teams, South Korea, in the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup, but scorer from Accra chose to shoot. The ball hit the crossbar, after which Uruguay won the penalty shootout.
On Thursday before the two-team showdown at the 2022 World Cup, Suárez was asked if he had any remorse for taking the ball out with his hand, and he replied: “I don’t regret what I did in that match because I did not miss a penalty.” . An answer that the historic scorer of the South American national team believed in, but for 32 million Ghanaians this does not save them from revenge, and for many years did not erase the pain of the broken hearts of July 2010.
Asamua Gyan, the goalscorer who didn’t score that evening, said in his autobiographical book released this year: “That missed penalty was the worst moment of my career. I feel like I’ve let down the entire Ghanaian people.” While he told Radio Talk Sport, “I would do the same as Suarez if I were in his shoes.”
In Ghana’s cabinet at the time, Sports Minister Akwa Sina Dansoa demanded a change in the rules of handball, alleging that her country’s national team had been robbed by Uruguay. Dansua went even further when she called on African Union members to unite against what she called “unfair treatment” of the continent’s national teams. at the world championships.
After that touch, Suarez, an Ajax Amsterdam player, then moved to Liverpool, England, and after the World Cup in Brazil, he wore a Barcelona jersey before moving to Atlético Madrid, Spain in 2020 before returning to Uruguayan club Nacional. , with which he began his sports career, and also won the America’s Cup with his country, but the people of Ghana have not forgotten and still want to see Suarez’s tears.
And in Accra on Wednesday, a few hours before the Ghana-Uruguay match at the current World Cup, Philip, who bought a Black Stars T-shirt, said: Luis Suarez, Luis Suarez, we will not forget and there will be a rematch on Friday. The ball was heading towards the net, but he interfered with it with his hand.
Former Ghanaian President John Mahama forgot about the political protocols for reminiscing about the Luis Suarez incident and said last April: “This was Ghana’s opportunity to embrace history, but Suarez did what he did, he broke the hearts of all Africans.” and I don’t forgive him for what he did.
