World Cup: Ghana miss penalty all over again vs Uruguay as Suarez protests

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By Kobe Tong

Published Dec 2, 2022

Ghana's penalty curse against Uruguay goes on.When the two nations met on Friday for their final Group H clash, it was only inevitable that the build-up surrounded their last meeting at the men's World Cup 12 years ago.As we all know, that quarter-final occasion in South Africa was overshadowed by Luis Suarez's dramatic handball to save Uruguay from conceding a last-minute winner in extra time.Asamoah Gyan stepped up to take the resulting penalty and upon hitting the crossbar, eventually watched on as Ghana crashed out of the tournament in the subsequent shootout.Check out our World Cup hub

What did Suarez and Nunez do vs Ghana?

So when the Black Stars were awarded a spot-kick in their reunion match in Qatar, it was only inevitable that minds were going to be cast back to what happened last time.

This time, in the absence of Gyan, the responsibility fell on the shoulders of Andre Ayew, who - according to some online - seemed to give Suarez a frosty handshake before the match.

And the tension was ramped up even more courtesy of Mr. Suarez himself heavily protesting the decision and Darwin Nunez seemingly scuffing up the penalty spot as part of the mind games.

Video: Suarez and Nunez turn on the mind games vs Ghana

Did Ayew score his penalty vs Uruguay?

That, combined with all of the history surrounding the penalty, meant that the eyes of the world were on Ayew as he stepped up to try and enact revenge for what happened all those years ago.

The result? Well, you couldn't write it because Ayew proceeded to take arguably the worst penalty of the 2022 World Cup so far to prolong Ghana's curse against their South American rivals.

Producing a tepid effort that lacked both power and accuracy, Sergio Rochet had an easy time beating the strike away and keeping the scores locked at 0-0. Check out the miss down below:

Video: Ayew produces terrible penalty to miss vs Uruguay

Pure, pure drama.

What happened after Ghana's penalty miss?

However, just in case you're doubting the legitimacy of the curse, bear in mind that Ghana went from blowing their chance to go 1-0 up to falling 2-0 down within the space of mere minutes.

Two goals from Giorgian de Arrascaeta in the 26th and 32nd minute respectively, the latter of which proving an excellent team effort, left Otto Addo's men staring at elimination.

And just to make matters worse for the African nation, it was Suarez himself who provided the assist for the second goal, meaning that he could well personally oversee Ghana dropping out of the World Cup twice in his career.