‘Ghana players must be ready to sacrifice’
Ghana coach Oto Addo called on his players to be ready to sacrifice themselves like Luis Suarez did in 2010 as they aim for a place in the World Cup knockout stage at Uruguay’s expense.
Uruguay striker Suarez broke Ghanaian hearts 12 years ago in South Africa when his deliberate handball stopped a certain goal in the dying moments of their quarter-final.
Suarez was sent off but Asamoah Gyan missed the resulting penalty and Uruguay then beat the Black Stars in a shootout ater the game ended 1-1.
“If the same incident would have happened the other way around and Ghana would have proceeded to the semi-finals, everyone would have said ‘OK, it’s normal that a player would do anything he can to help his team to go to the semi-finals’,” Oddo said on Thursday.
“This is what I wish from every player, to do all he can to help his team qualify, sacrificing himself with a red card.”
A win on Friday would guarantee Ghana passage from Group H and eliminate Uruguay but Addo said he was not thinking about dumping out Suarez, who was unrepentant over his actions when told he was considered “the devil himself” by Ghanaians earlier on Thursday.
“It was a very sad day for me... but this is my perspective,” said Addo. “If I see it from another perspective it’s a normal thing so for me it’s not a big topic.
“It’s not a normal game because the public is making it a different game. But for me it’s a normal game. We want to qualify for the next stage, we surely want to win.
“For us what happened in 2010 is very sad but we can’t change it. We’re looking forward and we want to win this game.”
GHANA FANS RELISH CHALLENGE: “We were waiting to celebrate, but we cried in the streets,” said Samuel Quist, 36, buying a Ghana team shirt in the capital Accra in preparation for Friday’s game.
“I hated that day.”
Current Ghana skipper Andre Ayew, the only player let from the 2010 squad, atempted to play down talk of revenge.
“Everyone felt bad (in 2010) but for me I just want to get to the next stage,” he told reporters in Qatar. “Revenge or not, we would go with the same determination and desire to win because we want to get to the next stage.”
“I am not looking back, I don’t want to focus on the past,” added the sotly spoken 32-yearold forward.
But try telling that to people in Ghana who are not willing to forgive or forget Uruguay and especially Suarez, the feisty 35-year-old striker who has been banned from football in the past for biting opponents.