From Cape Town to Cairo, hearts were broken and tears were shade as Ghana went down to Uruguay 4-2 on penalties, at The Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg, to end the Black Stars laudable run in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

As the only surviving team from Africa, Ghana went into the match carrying the dream of an entire continent. No African team has ever reached the semi finals but Ghana had edged close. The team’s great performances in the tournament attracted admirers across the globe. The Telegraph reported that more Ghanaian t-shirts were worn in London than Wayne Rooney’s on the morning of the match.

Ghana did not disappoint its enthusiast and made a great start to the match. The Black Stars took the lead 14 seconds before the end of the first half. Inter Milan Midfielder, Sulley Muntari, fired a cracking shot from over 27 yards to score what should be a contender for the goal of the tournament award.  The celebrations were wild as the stadium, dominated by African supporters, became noisy. The dream of seeing an African side in the semi finals was slowly becoming a reality.

However, Uruguay had other plans. Diego Forlan, who master minded South Africa’s early exit by scoring two goals in Uruguay’s 3-0 victory over the hosts, was up to torture African fans yet again. Early in the second half, he curved superb free kick from the left which went over the wall, past the goalkeeper and into the net. It was a moment of individual brilliance that reminded most people of former England skipper, David Beckham, who was renowned for bending free kicks from that sort of range. 

There were no more goals scored and the match went into extra time. The game was open and with a lot of tired legs, both teams created a lot of scoring opportunities. But the most dramatic event of the night happened in the last minute of the time added on. Ghana thought they had scored the winning goal when Dominic Adiyiah’s goal bound header beat the goal keeper but was handled on the line by Suarez. The referee sent Suarez off and pointed to the penalty spot. 

It all came down to Asamoah Gyan. The man who had already converted two penalties was now on the verge of answering millions of African prayers by scoring a goal that would have secured a semi final spot for Ghana. But it was not going to be his day; Gyan, who is normally a calm and confident penalty taker, surprisingly smashed the spot kick against the crossbar and high into the stands. Seconds later the referee blew the final whistle and the game was going to be decided on penalties.

The Uruguayans led the spot kicks and converted their first three penalties while Ghana missed its third spot kick as Urugualy goalie, Fernando Muslera, saved John Mensah’s penalty.  But the Black stars were gifted a lifeline as Maxi Pereira blasted Uruguay’s fourth penalty over the bar. However Adiyiah missed Ghana’s fourth penalty handing Uruguay the opportunity to win the match with their fifth penalty. The responsibility was on, Sebastian Abrue, to put Uruguay in the semi finals and he made no mistake. Confidently, he chipped the ball, sending the goalkeeper into the wrong direction and ending all African hopes in the World Cup.