#50: Ghana send USA packing in extra time

AP

Rustenburg, 27 June 2010: The United States was eliminated from the World Cup by Ghana for the second straight time as Asamoah Gyan scored 3 minutes into overtime, leading the Black Stars to a 2-1 second-round victory on Saturday night
Kevin Prince Boateng put Ghana ahead when he stripped the ball from Ricardo Clark in the 5th minute and beat goalkeeper Tim Howard from 16 yards.

Once again, the USA came back, and Landon Donovan tied the score with a penalty kick in the 62nd minute after Jonathan Mensah pulled down Clint Dempsey streaking in. But no matter how much the Americans pressured after Gyan scored, they couldn’t tie it again.

 

 

In the first-ever extra time World Cup game for the USA, Gyan got the winning goal when he took a long ball from Andre Ayew over the defense and beat USA captain Carlos Bocanegra, his teammate on the French club Rennes. Gyan let the ball bounce, took a touch with his chest, and with Jay DeMerit vainly trying to catch up, scored over goalkeeper Tim Howard with a left-footed shot from 16 yards.

There was no late magic this time to equal Donovan’s injury-time goal against Algeria that moved the Americans into the second round. The closest the USA came to tying it again was in the 98th minute, when Maurice Edu’s header off Donovan’s corner kick went wide.

With Howard pushed up, DeMerit’s desperation long shot in the final minutes went over the crossbar. Then Dempsey sent a header wide.

At the final whistle, Howard consoled Bocanegra and Maurice Edu collapsed to the ground. Donovan exchanged jerseys with a Ghana player and walked off the field, put on a coat, sat on the bunch and hung his head.

Meanwhile, the only African team left in the tournament celebrated moving into the quarterfinals against Uruguay on Friday in Johannesburg.