2022 World Cup: Ex-Ghana defender John Paintsil explains why Ghana-Uruguay clash is not about revenge

Former Ghana defender John Paintsil has why the Black Stars game against Uruguay in the upcoming World Cup is not a revenge.

The Black Stars has been paired against Portugal, Uruguay and South Korea in Group H in a draw that was held last week.

The biggest soccer mundial will be staged in Qatar between November and December with 32 countries set to battle it out for the ultimate.

The Black Stars will tackle Portugal in the opening game of the Group before facing Asian and South American giants South Korea and Uruguay respectively.

Ghana were denied a semifinal berth at the World Cup courtesy of a Luis Suarez handball incident in the quarterfinals of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

The former Liverpool and Barcelona forward prevent a goal-bound header from Ghana’s Dominic Adiyiah in the final minute of extra time at the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg.

Suarez essentially produced a save on the line worthy of a goalkeeper and he was shown a straight red card as a result.

Ghana were also awarded a penalty, but Asamoah Gyan’s attempt from 12 yards crashed into the crossbar, which resulted in Suarez going mental on the touchline and sent the game to a shootout.

Uruguay won the penalty shoot-out to progress to the semifinals with Luis Suarez celebrated for his demonic act.

Reacting to Ghana-Uruguay encounter in the upcoming World Cup, the 40-year-old noted football people don’t think about revenge but rather think about how the team can go forward.

“The game that is going to be mouth-watering and that people will be looking forward to is Uruguay-Ghana, because of the incident that happened in 2010 in South Africa,” Paintsil told BBC Sport Africa.

“As football people, we don’t think about revenge – but we always thought about how we can go forward.

“At the end of the day, it is not only Uruguay that we will play in the group. If you beat Uruguay but don’t beat the rest, it will be a problem.”