As an American, I must admit, I got an odd sense of schadenfreude in what just happened in Johannesburg, even though I was admittedly rooting for Ghana. The team that knocked the United States out on an unfairly given penalty in 2006 the team that knocked the United States out in 2010 in extra time after pulling every little cheap, cowardly trick in the book (that's not to say that other teams wouldn't have done it, but as a U.S. fan, it was incredibly irritating to watch), just got the world's harshest comeuppance in an ending that no one will ever forget.
Literally at the end of extra time, Ghana was awarded a free kick that resulted in a chance that was cleared off the line. The rebound went to a Ghanaian player who would have surely had a goal had it not been for a Luis Suarez handball on the line. The referee red-carded Suarez and awarded Ghana the penalty. Gyan, who had made 2 penalties already in this World Cup, stepped up to take this one. The last kick of the game. The one that would finally send an African team to the semifinals of the World Cup.........
....OFF THE CROSSBAR!
Uruguay won the penalty shootout, 4-2. Uruguay is going to Cape Town to meet the Netherlands in the semifinals of the World Cup.
It may be soccer and it may not be grained in the American fiber as sports such as baseball and American football are, but being this happened in the quarterfinals of the biggest sporting event in the world, surely it has to be one of the biggest chokes in the history of sports, does it not? Missing a PK in the dying seconds of extra time to send the game to a PK shootout which you go on to lose? Simply one of the most stunning moments you will ever see in sports.
(Hat tip to the SBNation.com front page for the screenshot).
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