Uruguay v Ghana, Friday 2nd July, 7.30pm
It’s South America v Africa for a place in the semi-finals, with few people predicting that either of these teams would make such excellent progress during the 2010 World Cup. Uruguay needed a play-off victory against Costa Rica simply to reach the finals, although a stout defence and a couple of sharp strikers have helped them make the quarter finals. They are strong favourites (11/10 Blue Square – £66 Free Bets) to win Friday’s match at Soccer City, with Oscar Tabarez’s team having now managed three straight wins in the competition.
Saturday’s 2-1 win over South Korea wasn’t particularly convincing, although it will matter little to a team that have conceded just one goal in their four games to date. What the Uruguayans do have in their favour is two excellent strikers by the name of Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez. While the latter had a slow start to his first ever World Cup, the 26-year-old is now starting to demonstrate why he scored 35 goals in 33 league games for Ajax last season. His brace against the Koreans proved to be the difference between the two sides and he’s on offer at 11/2 (Victor Chandler – £100 Free Bets) to score the first goal.
Not that Forlan is proving a slouch in front of goal either. The Atletico Madrid forward did for the hopes of Liverpool and Fulham in the Europa League and the former Manchester United striker will be looking to take advantage of a Ghana defence that looked unsteady during the second half of their match against the USA. You can back him at 5/1 (William Hill – £30 Free Bets) to break the deadlock, while the team’s designated penalty taker is 8/5 (Paddy Power – £20 Free Bets) to score at any stage of the game.
Ghana will be highly motivated for this match, especially as the Black Stars have the chance to make history by becoming the first African team to reach the World Cup semi-finals. They joined Cameroon and Senegal by making the quarter finals and Sky Bet – £15 Free Bets offer 10/3 that they claim a famous win in ninety minutes. Milovan Rajevac will have been delighted by the way his team stuck to their guns against the US, despite a second half onslaught which threatened their existence in the tournament.
One downside for the Ghanaians is that Andre Ayew will be missing for the game after picking up a yellow card in Rustenburg, while Kevin Prince-Boateng will almost certainly be out injured. It places tremendous emphasis on Asamoah Gyan to stump up with the goalscoring goods once again, especially as he’s the only player that has scored for the team so far. The Rennes striker is 15/2 (Paddy Power bookmakers) to break the deadlock.
Even so, this might be the end of the road for Ghana, who might struggle to break down a Uruguay team who are watertight in defence and have that winning mentality. A 1-0 win in favour of the south Americans is on offer at 5/1 (Blue Square).