Sports
Ghanaians cannot forgive Suarez …10 years after handball incident
“For me, the Uruguay game is a game I think we won.” John Paintsil says, looking back on one of the most dramatic matches in men’s World Cup history: the 2010 quarter-final between Ghana and Uruguay in Johannesburg.
The reality, though, is Ghana did not win. A handball by Luis Suarez stopped a certain goal bound shot deep into injury time, in one of the most controversial and memorial moments of that tournament. Suarez was sent off – but Ghana missed the resulting spot kick and, ultimately, went out on penalties after extra time.
The pain for Paintsil and his teammate Hans Sarpei still lingers, ten years on. For many Ghanaians, Luis Suarez is perpetrator of one of the greatest crimes in the country’s sporting history.
“We were cheated,” Paintsil says.
“To clear the ball from the line with your hand – it’s supposed to be a goal.”
Living in Ghana as he now does, Paintsil says people still keep talking about the incident.
“I can’t forgive him because it was not an accident.” Sarpei adds.
“He knows what he has done. We were crying and you see someone who has cheated us is celebrating. How can I forgive him? Never. Never ever.”
On the July 2, 2010, Ghana had the football hopes of a whole continent on their shoulders.
South Africa was the host of Africa’s first World Cup – but Bafana Bafana was unable to make it past the group stage despite a valiant effort.
The other African teams had all been eliminated at the same point, leaving just the Black Stars in the competition.
“On the way to the game against Uruguay, I think everybody knew we could beat them – I think the whole world was supporting us.” left-back Sarpei says.
“The way we play the game: we’re playing on the front, we’re attacking in front. We try to enjoy the game. When you see Ghana, it’s like you’re listening to music because the ball is flowing.”
Ghana took the lead on the stroke of half-time via a 40-yard thunderbolt from former Portsmouth and Inter Milan midfielder Sulley Muntari.
But Diego Forlan equalised with an exquisite free-kick and the two teams proceeded to play out in an engrossing contest – undoubtedly one of the best games of the competition – with both teams spurning chances throughout the game.
But it’s the final few minutes of the match that will forever live in World Cup infamy.
Ghana won a free-kick on the edge of the box, which was whipped in by Paintsil. In an ensuing goalmouth scramble, Suarez legitimately cleared a shot off the line from Captain Steven Appiah – before, seconds later, palming Dominic Adiyiah header away from goal.
“For me, I thought, ‘last man on the line, touch it with his hand, it’s supposed to be a goal’ – so I was already celebrating that we were through.” Paintsil recalls.
“Then I saw it was a penalty and I said, ‘What?’ I was shouting, ‘No, no, take the ball to the centre (circle), take the ball to the centre.’”
Suarez was sent off, leaving the field in tears, whilst the Ghanaian players began to celebrate.
“I think everybody from our side was thinking ‘yeah, we’re going to the semi-final’ because Asamoah Gyan had scored two penalty goals before and he made it look easy.” Sarpei says.
Gyan had been talismanic for Ghana in the tournament, leading the line and scoring the winner in the previous round against the United States – a game which had also gone to extra time.
“I was standing there and for me the ball was going into the net and we are going through to the next round.” Sarpei recalls.
“Then it hit the crossbar and my first thought was like, ‘is this real?’ Really? The ball is not into the net? What is happening? What is the problem?’
“And then it was difficult. At this moment, when he didn’t score and we had to go to the penalty shootout, the feeling was like, now it will be difficult to go to the next round.”
Suarez, who had stopped in the tunnel to watch the penalty, was pictured celebrating when Gyan missed – something that still rankles with Paintsil.
“After the penalty was missed you came out and then celebrated like you’re on top of the world by hurting people. At least be a professional, feel the pain. Just go to your dressing room and celebrate and then nobody will see it.”
Suarez was quoted in the press saying “the hand of God now belongs to me”, referencing Diego Maradona’s goal against England at the 1970 World Cup.
Ghana would go on to lose via a penalty shootout and with it went Africa’s golden opportunity to win a World Cup.
In the two tournaments since, no African team has come close to reaching the semi-final stage.
The match against Ghana is where Luis Suarez first gained international notoriety. Six months later, he joined Liverpool from Dutch giants Ajax.
Suarez took a gamble that helped his country get into its first semi-final since 1970, but they were beaten 3-2 by the Netherlands without him.
“One has to do what one has to do to make his country proud and that’s what he did to us,” says Paintsil – but asked if put in the same position as Suarez, whether he would handle the ball, he was adamant.
“There’s no African player that would have done that,” he argues.
“Africans are more athletic. Even when the ball is on the other line, I would have tried to kick the ball, kung-fu style.”
They say time heals old wounds. But 10 years on, the wound still appears to be open for Hans and John.
“It still pains. I’m still feeling it anytime I think about it,” says Pantsil.
“A lot of things would have changed in Ghanaian football, in our country and also in Africa. Maybe adding numbers to the next World Cup, the more an African team goes forward, the more we can add more countries to our package. For me I don’t know when I’m going to forget about this memory but now it’s part of me.” –BBC
Sports
Gaging sports gains in 2024
In 10 days’ time, the year 2024 will pass as one of the most eventful years for sports as a nation.
It may be so due to the myriad of sports activities that got the various national teams and individual clubs busy with international competitions.
But one may also be right in asking what is there to show for those adventures.
Truthfully, one would prefer to walk from Accra to Tema than attempting to answer such a question.
Although there were a few gains to celebrate, the weight of failure clearly overshadows it and leaves sports fanatics in wonder land; uncertain about the direction of sports in Ghana.
Taking stock of the country’s fortunes regarding sports is more or less an annual ritual that usually provide similar answers years in and out; and this year will be no exception.
On our sports calendar, football has been the busiest with the Black Stars involved in FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFCON 2025 qualifiers.
The latter left Ghanaians heartbroken with an unprecedented outcome.
In a group that had Angola, Sudan and Niger, the Black Stars failed to register a single win; losing three games and drawing the same number to finish at the rock bottom of the table with three points.
Eventually, the group was won by Angola’s Palencas Negras and Kwesi Appiah’s Sudan.
The USA, Canada and Mexico World Cup 2026 qualifiers, however, appears to be going well for the Stars with Ghana in second position behind Comoros with the same number of points – nine, out of four matches.
Other countries in Ghana’s group (Group I) include Madagascar, Mali, Central African Republic and Chad, the whipping boys in the group.
The Stars started the qualifers well, chalking a 1-0 home win over Madagascar but was pegged back by Comoros which beat Ghana 1-0.
The team, however, bounced back from that disappointment to beat Mali 2-1 in Bamako in one of the team’s finest performances in the year under review and recorded a 4-3 victory over the Central African Republic (CAF).
At the centre of the Black Stars performance storm was Head Coach Otto Addo who came under an avalanche of criticism for the team’s poor performance.
Ghana Football Association president, Kurt Okraku was also not spared of the backlash as his resignation became the clarion call on the lips of many.
But the two have shown they have very thick skin or might have developed a ‘dead goat’ syndrome, granting them the immunity to withstand the fiery darts of their critics.
On the continental level, FC Samartex and Nsoatreman FC made attempts to rescue Ghana’s free fall but that failed to materialise as their challenges in the CAF Champions League and Confederations Cup competitions collapsed before the league stages.
But there was success for Ghana in football following gold medal performances from the male and female teams in the African Games football competition.
It appears some successes were chalked at the sub-continental level with Kurt Okraku reaping a few results from the WAFU B level.
The Golden Arms, the national armwrestling team was obviously the best team having snatched a total of 41 medals at the African Games consisting of eight gold, 19 silver and 14 bronze medals.
Boxing recorded seven medals, athletics had six, weightlifting had three medals, hockey had two, and taekwondo recorded two medals while swimming had two and volleyball, one.
At the Paris Olympic Games, it was more of participation and acting as tourists than winning medals as Ghana fell short in all the disciplines competed.
But once again, it exposed the issues about poor preparation of athletes and lack of proper facilities back home to help local athletes.
Perhaps, one of the biggest shocks was the failure of the national boxing team, the Black Bombers to qualify for the Olympics.
Generally, it was not an encouraging performance from sports in the year. It actually marked a dip in performance as professional boxing failed to produce a world champion just like athletics, taekwondo, handball, badminton, table tennis, tennis and the others failed in their respective bids.
With a new government set to assume the reins of power and sports development to be championed by a new Sports Minister, it will be incumbent on the responsible agencies for sports development and promotion like the National Sports Authority (NSA) and the various sports federations to put their act together and work towards reviving Ghana sports to its past status.
By Andrew Nortey
Sports
Resetting Ghana sports
In a few weeks’ time, returnee president, John DramaniMahama, will assume the reins of governance after taking his Oath of Office on January 7, 2025.
This follows the National Democratic Congress (NDC) historic feat in the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections held on December 7.
That ended the eight-year reign of President Nana AddoDankwaAkufo- Addo and his vice, DrMahamuduBawumia, of the New Patriotic Party.
It’s been less than a week after JDM’s declaration by the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission who doubles as the Returning Officer of the presidential poll, Mrs Jean Mensa, but several calls and suggestions have been flying across the corridors of power.
For bitter NDC faithful, top NPP officials who were alleged to have been involved in shoddy deals should be whisked away by the police or the respective agency in charge of investigation.
Others have urged the new team to hit the ground running in a bid to alleviate the pain and difficulties in which Ghanaians find themselves.
Followers of sports are not left out in this regard. They want to see a lot of changes as part of a mammoth agenda to RESET the nation.
This may be coming on the back of the reality that Ghana sports in the past few years have been on a backward trajectory.
At the last Olympic Games in Paris, members of Team Ghana were mere passengers and tourists. The only excitement seen on the faces of Ghanaians was not as a result of a medal won but the sight of watching members fly Ghana flags during the opening ceremony.
The celebration was about the projection of Ghana as active and regular participants at the games but always far away from the medal podium.
The height of the disappointment was the Black Stars’ failure to qualify for the 2025 AFCON – the first miss in 20 years.
In a qualifying group that had Angola, Sudan and Niger, the Black Stars under Coach Otto Addo ended the qualifiers winless – drawing three and lost same.
That is not to suggest that the other national teams are performing any better.
Apart from the national U-20 team, the Black Satellites, that triumphed in the football event of the last edition of the African Games hosted in Accra, Ghana’s success in football has been in minor competitions in the West Africa Football Union (WAFU) B region.
It has been so with many or all of the sports disciplines operating under the National Sports Authority (NSA). Athletics, boxing (both pro and amateur), handball, volleyball, basketball, taekwondo, kickboxing, tennis, table tennis, cycling etc. are experiencing similar fate.
Maybe, the only shining light is the sport of arm-wrestling, Ghana’s Messiah at the African Games.
Obviously, this is not a good record for a country that considers herself as a sports nation and clearly remains one of the first and foremost sectors that needs resetting.
What is of paramount interest to Ghanaians at the moment are the qualifiers for the USA, Canada and Mexico 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Fortunately, the Black Stars languish in second spot with an important away victory over Mali doing the magic.
Under the upcoming administration, fans must see a new composure and attitude reset to meet the challenges to qualify for the World Cup.
Football on the local scene must also see an improvement in teams’ performances and administration.
The brains administering the game must also be reset to understand and admit that the local players are capable of delivering the same results from the foreign legion at a much cheaper cost.
The other disciplines would also need massive push to come up but in all of this, sports with comparative advantages must get the nod over those that should be reduced to recreational sports.
Above all, the sector will need a supervisor with a good knowledge about the area to lead the resetting agenda in order not to lose focus or fall to the conspiracytheories of the sophisticated administrators.
By Andrew Nortey
