Ghana captain Andre Ayew has said that the Black Stars should not approach the Uruguay game with revenge as their sole goal, because the most important thing is to win three points.
The Black Stars will compete in their fourth World Cup this year, and they have been drawn into a group with familiar opponents Portugal, South Korea, and Uruguay.
However, given the contentious manner in which the Black Stars were eliminated at the 2010 tournament in South Africa, the game against Uruguay on December 2 is one that many Ghanaians are looking forward to.
A deliberate handball by Luis Suarez denied Ghana a late victory, and Asamoah Gyan squandered the resulting penalty, as the Black Stars went on to lose 4-2 in the penalty shootout, failing to reach World Cup semi-finals for the first time.
“As a team leader, I don’t believe we should view this game as revenge.
“Instead, we must be smart enough to recognise that it is a match we need points from,” he said in an interview with Al Jazeera.
“We just want to win against Uruguay after everything that has been said in the media. As a player, if you go into a game with the intent of retaliation, you can make a lot of mistakes and be hyper.”
“We just need to stay calm, follow the plan and try to win the game, or do whatever we can to advance to the next stage.”
Ghana will play Portugal and South Korea before Uruguay, and Ayew is optimistic that they will qualify for the knockout stage.
Ayew had two goals at his previous World Cup in 2014, and he intends to break this mark in Qatar.