Uruguay won't play in the 2022 World Cup Round of 16 despite the fact that the team coached by Diego Alonso won the last game of the group stage against Ghana. The Uruguayan side drew their opening match against South Korea and then lost against Portugal. Winning against Ghana became crucial and Luis Suarez and his teammates got that part of the job done but it was not enough as South Korea won against Portugal, and advanced on tiebreakers. Uruguay and South Korea were equal on points, and goal difference but South Korea's three total goals see them through over Uruguay's two.
The game started off pretty badly for Uruguay as Ghana were more in control of the ball and had some nice opportunities to score the opening goal. The game turned, however, when Andre Ayew missed a penalty which Uruguayan goalkeeper Sergio Rochet saved thanks to a relatively tame effort. From that moment on, Uruguay completely changed their attitude and immediately reacted. Darwin Nunez went very close to scoring the first goal of the match, but his attempt was saved by Mohammed Salisu right before the ball went into the net.
But Uruguay's first goal was just a matter of minutes away and they scored with Giorgian De Arrascaeta only a few minutes after. His header gave Uruguay a 0-1 lead at the Al Wakrah, after the individual play of Luis Suarez which led to the opening goal. Before the end of the first half Diego Alonso's team also scored the second goal with the same De Arrascaeta, this time after a very nice play by the whole team, including Suarez again.
ANOTHER FOR URUGUAY 🇺🇾
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) December 2, 2022
Giorgian de Arrascaeta scores his second goal of the first half 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/pJQNQSWA4K
The second half started as the first one ended with Uruguay in control of the game. After ten minutes the referee was called by the VAR to check for a potential penalty on Darwin Nunez but then decided to confirm his initial decision and didn't concede it. Uruguay had few a other chances with Facundo Pellistri and Darwin Nunez again, but failed to score the third goal. Ghana pushed in the last part of the match, but the match went into another direction once South Korea scored the winning goal against Portugal. Uruguay tried to score the third goal that could mean a potential qualification for the Round of 16 but failed to do so and are out of the competition.
