Uruguay vs Ghana: Can Africans Make their Step in Semi Final?

With Ghana taking on Uruguay on 2 June in the quarter final of World Cup Football 2010, all the football fans in Africa are now eagerly hoping that Ghana would defeat Uruguay and reach the semi final of the tournament.

No other team from Africa has ever reached the semi final in any World Cup Football tournament. So, it is a big chance for Ghana to make history with a victory over the South Americans.

Missing their talismanic midfielder Michael Essien, Ghana was not thought to have come this far. From this point of view, they have already done something impressive. Now, they would be inspired to play at their best against Uruguay and reach the semi final, and thus, becoming the first African team to have achieved this feat.

Ghana started with a 1-0 win over Serbia in Group D and then drew with Australia 1-1. Though they lost their final group stage match to Germany 1-0, Ghana reached the round of 16 securing the second spot in the group.

In the last 16, they defeated USA 2-1 thanks to an extra time goal from striker Asamoah Gyan who has scored 3 goals so far in the tournament. Gyan scored in 3 of Ghana’s 4 matches and Ghana did not lose the matches where he scored.

So, Ghana would expect another scoring performance from Asamoah Gyan against Uruguay in what could be a historic match for the African side. Ghana has some other key players who have to be at their best to get over the Uruguayan challenge.

In the midfield they have Stephen Appiah, André Ayew, Kwadwo Asamoah and Kevin-Prince Boateng who scored against USA. Their defense is pretty much strong in the presence of John Pantsil, John Mensah and Hans Sarpei.

Ghana has become the third African team to reach the quarter final of World Cup after Cameroon and Senegal. Cameroon surprised the football world when they made it to the last 8 in 1990 World Cup. In 2002, Senegal, in their first appearance in the World Cup, reached the quarter final after defeating defending champion France and Sweden.

Now, it would be interesting to see if Ghana can increase Africa’s territory to the semi final.