Ghana defeat USA 2-1 to advance to quarter-finals

For the first time in this World Cup, the Black Stars had no Hoffenheim players in their starting line-up. Isaac Vorsah had to sit the game out because of knee problems, while his club colleague Prince Tagoe was on the bench. The 35,000 spectators in Rustenburg saw Ghana have a dream start. On 6 minutes, Clark lost the ball on the halfway line to Boateng, who headed straight for goal and struck a low shot past USA keeper Tim Howard to make it 1-0. The USA started to come back into the game, and threatened to score the equaliser; Finley wasted a good chance for Bob Bradley's team on 35 minutes.

In the second half, the USA again came close to scoring; Altidore found Feilhaber in the penalty box, and his looping effort was saved well by Ghana keeper Kingston. But on 62 minutes, the US found a deserved equaliser. Dempsey was brought down clumsily in the box by Jonathon Mensah, and Landon Donovan stepped up to put Kingston the wrong way to give the USA an equaliser. A long ball on 81 minutes from Bocanegra towards Altidore then provided the next goalscoring opportunity, but John Mensah did enough to put off the Hull City striker, who fired wide of the right post. It was the last opportunity of regulation time, but the fans didn't have to wait long for a goal in extra time. A long ball from the Ghanaian half found Asamoah Gyan, who controlled the ball with his chest and smashed the ball past Howard. It was the decisive moment in an entertaining game. "We've not only made Ghana proud, but the whole African continent. I'm the happiest man in the world", said match winner Gyan after the game. Ghana have now become the third African side in history to reach the last eight of the World Cup after Cameroon in 1990 and Senegal in 2002.