Uruguay beat Ghana in one of the most controversial circumstances that have become a hallmark for World Cup 2010.
Had it not been the heroics of Suarez, with not his feet but his hands infront of goal, Uruguay would have been taking a flight back home not Ghana, but the fate had it otherwise for both teams.
Suarez could not be blamed for trying to save the world cup hopes for his country in the very last minute of extra time by doing a trick that only goalkeepers are allowed to do. He stopped a ball from going into the goal with his hands.
Ghana was given a penalty kick as per rules of the game and Suarez a Red card, but the kick was hit on the top of the cross bar by PK specialist Gyan, who until then had been the hero for Ghana. Suarez was jumping for joy when he saw this happen and he knew he had taken his country to the Semi final by his version of "Hands Of God".
An unbelievable, unimaginable and completely unexpected result has come out of the very first quarter final match for World Cup 2010. You had to be very brave and have sound arguments if you wanted to convince anyone that Brazil may not get to the final let alone not win the world cup, but today's both Brazil and Holland have proved everyone wrong.
A horrible second half play complete with Own Goal and a red card... with negativity written all over brazillian plays has contributed to their downfall. Frankly, Holland did not play that positive either but they still won. At the end it just looked like they couldn't believe their own luck.
Kaka and Robinho were nowhere to be found in the second half even though they ran rampant in the Dutch half during the first half. Makes me think whatever talk they had in the dressing room during the break was not taken all that positively. Come to think of it, this was not a very good match to watch.
Nonetheless, this result leaves the world cup wide open. Spain and Argentina looking even bigger than their stature now. Now teams like Paraguay all of sudden look favorite :).
I found a very interesting article on internet about the nick names that each team is known by their fans. Some very intersting names are used. Here is a list of all the teams with their
Algeria – Les Fennecs (The Desert Foxes) Argentina – Albicelestes (White and Sky blue) Australia – Socceroos Brazil – Seleção (The Selection). Also Canarinhos (Little Canary) and Verde e Amarelo (Green and Yellow). Cameroon – Lions Indomptables (Indomitable Lions) Chile – La Roja (The Red) Cote d’Ivoire – Les Éléphants (The Elephants) Denmark – Olsens Elleve (Olsen’s Eleven) – In honour of popular head coach Morten Olsen. England – The Three Lions – From the FA crest. France – Les Bleus (The Blues) Germany – National Mannschaft (National Team) or DFB Elf (DFB Eleven) or National Elf (National Eleven). The nickname Die Mannschaft (the team) is only used by non-German media. Ghana – The Black Stars Greece – To Piratiko (The Pirate Ship) – Since Euro 2004. But another common nickname is apparently Galanoleyki, meaning Blue and White. Honduras – Los Catrachos which is apparently how other Central Americans refer to Hondurans. Also La H (The H) – The crest is a large H, which looks extremely cool on the shirt. Italy – Azzurri (Sky Blues) Japan – Blue Samurai Mexico – El Tri (after the three colours or “tricolor” on the Mexican flag). Netherlands – Oranje
North Korea – Chollima (some sort of mythical horse) New Zealand – All Whites (rugby union team are the All Blacks) Nigeria – Super Eagles
Paraguay – La Albirroja (The White-Red) or Guaraní (an indigenous people) Portugal – Selecção das Quinas (Team of the Five Shields) – Referring to the five shields on the FA crest. I think. Serbia – Beli Orlovi (White Eagles) – Referring to the white double headed eagle on the Serbia coat of arms.
Slovakia – Repre (at least according to Wikipedia, but there’s no explanation as to what this means). Slovenia – Zmajceki (Dragons) – Because there’s a dragon on the crest of capital city Ljubljana. South Africa – Bafana Bafana (The Boys) South Korea – Taeguk Warriors. Fans are often called The Red Devils. Spain – La Furia Roja (Red Fury) Switzerland – Schweizer Nati United States – Often referred to as the MNT (Men’s National Team) or The Yanks. Uruguay – La Celeste (The Sky Blue)
