Last Friday, Ghanaians were made sad by the Black Stars 2-0 loss to Uruguay in the third and final Group H encounter at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
Earlier, Ghana had lost 3-2 to Portugal in their first group match and beaten South Korea 3-2 in the second.
The victory over the Koreans gave every Ghanaian hope that the Black Stars had found themselves and so were not going to give the Uruguayans any chance, not even a dog's chance.
This was for the reason that the Black Stars were going to avenge not just a defeat but also cheating at the hands of the Uruguayans at the FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010.
Ghanaians had, therefore, put behind them the defeat by the Portuguese in the first Group H match and focused all energies on the Ghana-Uruguay duel.
Minute by minute analysis of the game has it that there was a relatively quiet proceedings into the 16th minute when a Jordan Ayew shot created an opportunity for Ghana to take the lead by a penalty.
But Dede Ayew's spot-kick in the 18th minute was saved by the Uruguayan goalkeeper and the Stars subsequently conceded two goals within six minutes in the 26th and 32ndminutes to finally lose the game 2-0, meaning that the revenge so much desired by Ghanaians did not materialise.
We wish to remind the whole world and particularly Ghanaians that the Black Stars did the best they could to redeem the image of the country but football and its surprises can never be brushed aside.
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Therefore, the Stars' defeat must be taken as a surprise if we think that they could have carried the day in spite of the fact that Uruguay had been ranked far better than Ghana by FIFA-- Uruguay 14th and Ghana 61st.
We wish to encourage the Black Stars to put the defeat behind them and rather focus on what they can do to have another chance in 2026 to showcase the stuff they are made of.
The defeat notwithstanding, the Stars' efforts to stop the Uruguayans to score more goals to advance to the round of 16 is the best every Ghanaian could wish for a side that denied Ghana a historic semifinal berth and hopefully a shot at the final of South Africa 2010.
If nothing at all, we should jubilate at making Luis Suarez, Ghana's killjoy at South Africa 2010, cry at Qatar 2022.
Suarez himself describes his side's failure to advance from the group stage as "sadness and disappointment that we feel" and he would live with that for the rest of his life for it is not likely he would be part of his side in 2026 because of his age - 35 years now.
Having said that, we urge Ghanaians to stop all acts and remarks that are meant to denigrate the Black Stars, particularly Dede Ayew, for missing the penalty, which was a real given though.
We should remember that his spot-kick was really well-intentioned.
What is more important is for Black Stars players and their handlers to think of qualification for World Cup 2026 as we have already stated.
