GHANA’S Otto Addo has defended Luis Suarez’s infamous 2010 handball against them – and says he would expect his side to do the same against Uruguay.
The African nation, who have four points from two games after the win over South Korea, will be out for revenge against Uruguay, who only have one going into their now must-win last group game tomorrow.
The sides faced off in the quarter final back in 2010 during the World Cup in South Africa, and a rivalry was born.
Sulley Muntari put Ghana ahead only for Uruguay to equalise through Diego Forlan to send the match to extra time.
With penalties looming as the score remained level, Ghana were putting on the pressure and came close to scoring in the final minute of the match only for Suarez to punch the ball off the line.
He was instantly sent-off as the referee awarded a penalty – but Asamoah Gyan blew his country’s semi-final dream by blasting over.
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If that was not bad enough, Suarez was still on the touchline watching on and burst into wild celebration as the game went to a shoot-out – which was eventually won by Uruguay.
That made him public enemy No.1 in Ghana – although Suarez showed no remorse for his actions when quizzed about it in the pre-match press conference.
However, now Ghana coach Addo has claimed the much-maligned forward had sacrificed himself for his team-mates and claimed his actions are “normal”.
And he added that he would expect his side to do all they can to qualify for the knock-out stages.
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Addo said: “In general it is about perspective, if the same incident would have happened the other way around and Ghana proceeded to the semi-finals, everyone would say it is normal that a player would do anything he can to help his team go to the semi-finals.
“For me, it’s not a big topic. This is what I wish from every player, to do all he can to help his team qualify. Sometimes even sacrificing himself with a red card.
“It was a very sad day for me, I watched it and I was sad, but this is my perspective.
“If I see it from another perspective, it is a normal thing.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
