The Black Stars were hoping to qualify for the last 16 but that dream was dashed after Ghana tumbled out of the World Cup with a 2-0 loss to rival Uruguay.
Ghana were awarded a spot-kick in the first half of the match after goalkeeper Sergio Rochet’s challenge on forward Mohammed Kudus. Ayew stepped up to take the penalty but was denied as Rochet dropped down to his left to save.
“I can imagine what Dede Ayew is going through right now because I’ve been there before,” said Gyan on Super Sport. “After missing the penalty you could see he was psychologically broken down.”
“It’s part of the game but the players will console him. It won’t be easy to get over it”
Although Ghana were awarded a penalty to try to win the game, which was tied at 1-1, Asamoah Gyan crashed his spot kick off the bar and Uruguay went on to book a semifinal against the Netherlands by winning 4-2 on penalties.
History repeated itself after Ghana and Uruguay reunited in the group stages on Friday, Dec 2, 2022, becoming the only team in the history of the FIFA World Cup to fail to convert two penalties against the same opponent.
Despite beating Ghana 2-0, Uruguay were knocked out of the World Cup on goals scored after South Korea’s dramatic win against Portugal in the final Group H matches.
Meanwhile, Ghana coach Otto Addo has stepped down from his role after missing a chance to get revenge on Uruguay.
The incident rekindles Asamoah Gyan’s penalty miss against the same opponent at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
In the quarter-final of the tournament, Luis Suarez was shown a straight red card for deliberately keeping out Dominic Adiyiah’s goal-bound header with his hands.