Ghana’s head coach, Otto Addo, maintains his team will not seek vengeance against Uruguay in a rematch of their disastrous 2010 World Cup quarter-final.
Following their 3-2 win against South Korea on Monday, Addo’s team will want to advance to the round of 16 by defeating La Celeste in their last Group H encounter on Friday.
The match will be spiced up since it comes 12 years after their infamous last-eight meeting in South Africa.
Luis Suarez denied Ghana an extra-time winner by handling Dominic Adiyiah’s goalbound header on the line after Diego Forlan had cancelled out Sulley Muntari’s earlier score.
Asamoah Gyan missed the ensuing penalty, which was passionately cheered by the expelled Suarez, and Uruguay went to the semi-finals after winning 4-2 on penalties.
However, Addo argues that the traumatic memories will not give additional motivation for the Black Stars, who would have been the first African country to reach the last four.
“I’m a guy who doesn’t think too much in the past when this incident happened,” the coach said. “I’m a strong believer that if you don’t seek revenge, you get even more blessings.
“It’s a different approach, a different team. [Uruguay] have very good strikers, lots of experience. They are very compact, very good. It will be very, very difficult, again.
“We are a team that knows every game will be on the edge, we have to be at our best to beat them. But I’m confident enough to know we can win this game.”