Preview: Uruguay – Ghana

(GSM) – It will be either the return to the top for a two-times world champion or the first African semi-finalist ever as Uruguay and Ghana face for their quarter final clash this Friday.

Uruguay began this tournament with a 0-0 draw against France and went on to beat South Africa (3-0) and Mexico (0-1) in the remaining group games. In the round of sixteen, the South Americans were too strong for Korea Republic, beating the Asians 2-1 with two goals from Luis Suarez.

Diego Lugano, Mauricio Victorino and Jorge Fucile were all booked in one of the previous four games and another yellow card in this game would rule them out for a potential semi final.

Uruguay won the tournament in 1930 and 1950 but have since failed to do so. In 1954 and more recently in 1970, they did reach the semi finals. However, since then they never managed to survive the round of sixteen.

Ghana have already done better than ever as they had never reached the quarter finals before. In their only previous World Cup, four years ago, the Africans lost in the round of sixteen. The Ghanaians will be extremely aware of the fact that they could become the first African side ever to qualify for a World Cup semi final.

The tournament began well for Ghana with a 1-0 win over Serbia, followed by a less impressive 1-1 draw with Australia. Although the final group game was lost 1-0 to Germany, it was still good enough for a spot in the next round.

Beating the United States after extra time in the round of sixteen, Ghana became the only country to advance to the quarter finals after having finished second in their group. All other seven quarter-finalists were in fact group winners.

Ghana coach Rajevac will need to be creative finding replacements for at least two positions as both Jonathan Mensah and Andre Ayew are suspended for this game. Players at risk of missing the semi final if booked again on Friday are Prince Tagoe, Lee Addy and Anthony Annan. The same applies to Isaac Vorsah but the defender is unavailable due to injury.

Uruguay and Ghana will face off at Johannesburg’s Soccer City Stadium with kick-off set for 20:30 (8:30pm) local time. The referee for this game is Olegario Benquerenca from Portugal.