Uruguay vs Ghana was bound to have a lot of emotion behind it – a penalty was awarded early on the game – but a red card incident might have been missed by the referee.
Ghana even had a penalty in the opening exchanges of the match – they had to, didn't they? – but Andre Ayew couldn't score from 12 yards, with echoes of Asamoah Gyan 12 years before all too clear for everyone to be reminded of.
That was all before Giorgian de Arrascaeta grabbed hold of the clash. The Flamengo star is largely unheard of in Europe and with two moments in the first half, he changed the very complexion of this game – first by nodding in a tap-in from Luis Suarez and then with a stunning volley to make the task even harder for Ghana.
He may have put La Celeste in pole position to advance out of the group with Uruguay… but should he have been dismissed?
Mohammed Kudus went down after a challenge from De Arrascaeta, screaming as play carrying on. Eventually, Suarez was fouled and the referee brought the game to a quick halt but never looked at the earlier challenge.
When the BBC showed the footage of the challenge from the Uruguayan goalscorer on Ajax attacker Kudus, it appeared that De Arrascaeta stamped on the 22-year-old. Kudus was also the Ghanaian at the centre of the penalty controversy with Uruguay goalkeeper Sergio Rochet – and after this challenge, he was rolling around on the floor, lifting his shirt to check his side for stud marks.
We always knew this one was going to be fiery.
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