Ghana, the only African representatives left at the World Cup, are still dreaming to pull off an unprecedented feat for the Dark Continent ahead of their game against a revengeful USA side. Before FIFA's primary competition got underway, the Black Stars revealed that they are aiming high, saying their objective is to claim the prestigious title. Midway through the competition, Ghana are still chasing their dream. "We want to do it for Africa," midfielder Sulley Muntari said. "We want to break records." Cameroon and Senegal are the only African teams to have reached the World Cup quarter-finals in 1990 and 2002 respectively. Ghana qualified for the round of 16 despite not scoring a single open-play goal in their first three games. Both goals in the 1-0 win over Serbia and 1-1 draw with Australia came from penalty kicks. They lost their last match 1-0 to Germany. "It's a fact that we haven't scored from open play, but it does not mean that we can't play," Muntari added. "We will continue working hard on it." USA, on the other hand, are determined to avenge their controversial loss to Ghana in 2006. The Ghanaians, in their maiden World Cup appearance four years ago, were also the only African team to reach the last 16 after registering a 2-1 victory over the Americans. Ghana were awarded a controversial spot kick that helped them claim all three points and oust USA.
"An injustice," said USA defender Oguchi Onyewu, who was adjudged to have fouled Razak Pimpong while going for a header. "I still to this day don't know where the foul came from." Midfielder Landon Donovan echoed his teammate's sentiment. "That was not a good day — for me or the team," Donovan stated. "What I remember most personally was my tentativeness and the immediate feeling afterwards of the finality of it, and how disappointing that was." Confidence On the other hand, the first match in the round of 16 will be between South Korea and Uruguay, with the latter side's coach Oscar Tabarez full of confidence. "We've showed that we are a tough team to tackle for the others," Tabarez said. "We are trying to do what we had exactly in mind before the tournament. Now I don't think we've achieved that yet, but Uruguay is now a difficult opponent for anybody." South Korea star Park Ji-Sung is also convinced that facing the two-time world champions will be a tough task. "We watched a few of Uruguay's games, they have quality and they are strong and their performances were great in the group stages," he told The Daily Yomiuri.
