Ghana and Orlando Pirates goalkeeper Richard Ofori says they must focus on Portugal and Korea Republic first before they can think about Uruguay, which will be a grudge match.
Ofori said if they focus on avenging what happened in South Africa’s 2010 World Cup they will be shooting themselves in the foot since it will be their last World Cup group stage game.
The Black Stars, who are the lowest-ranked side in this World Cup in Qatar, will start the tournament against Portugal at Stadium 947 ad- Doha in Doha later today (18:00).
They will then face Korea Republic on 28 November at Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan (15:00). They will conclude Group H with Uruguay, who are two times World Cup champions, on 2 December at Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah (17:00).
12 years ago, Ghana were hoping to be the first African nation to reach the World Cup semi-final in South Africa 2010 and were on the attack in the last minute of extra time as their thrilling quarter-final with Uruguay was tied at 2-2.
Luis Suarez blatantly blocked Dominic Adiyiah’s header off the line with his hand and was sent off but Asamoah Gyan could not take advantage.
His penalty bounced off the crossbar with Suarez, watching on from the tunnel, wildly celebrating the miss.
Ghana then lost the penalty shootout 4-2.
“Everyone knows what happened against Uruguay, but we are not there for Uruguay because the group is tough,” said Ofori.
“Nowadays football has developed in such a way that you can’t underrate any team or any other team. Every team is the best – if not the best they can’t be there. So we consider every game as important as Uruguay.”
Ofori was supposed to be with Ghana squad in Qatar but he aggravated his knee in the MTN8 final match for Pirates against AmaZulu at the Moses Mabhida Stadium early this month.
With him being pulled out, it meant the PSL will not have a representative in the World Cup finals since 2006 in Germany as he was the only hope.
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Ghana are heading to the match against Portugal today having not won a World Cup match since beating the United States of America at Royal Bafokeng Stadium in the round of 16 in Mzansi.
They have lost three of the four previous matches, including losing 2-1 to Portugal in the 2014 World Cup finals when Cristiano Ronaldo scored a late winner.
That was the Black Stars’ last game in the World Cup.
“We will surprise people at the World Cup,” said Ofori confidently.
“I know that we have a good quality in the World Cup that will compete.”
