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There's a place in the round of 16 of the World Cup up for grabs when Ghana and Uruguay play in Al Wakrah on Friday but, for Africa's Black Stars, there's even more at stake.

It's 12 years since their only other meeting, the quarterfinal of 토토사이트the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, when Uruguay striker Luis Suarez deliberately stopped Dominic Adiyiah's goal-bound header with his hands in the final minute of extra 먹튀검증time. It triggered a sequence of events that ended with Ghana exiting the tournament in the most dramatic fashion and denied Africa its first메이저사이트 World Cup semifinalists.

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It's a moment that still stings so much that메이저토토사이트 Ghana FA president Kurt Okraku said when the draw was made for Qatar: "It will be revenge time."

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For some Ghana fans, even knocking out Uruguay on Friday will not be enough to erase the memory of Johannesburg.

Suarez's actions ended Ghana's involvement at the World Cup but also prevented a moment of history for African football, which has still had only three teams (Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002 and Ghana themselves in 2010) reach a quarterfinal, let alone go any further.

But it wasn't just Suarez's blatant save on the goal-line which angered an entire continent.

Suarez watched the resulting penalty from the mouth of the tunnel after Portuguese referee Olegario Benquerenca had shown a red card.

Asamoah Gyan smacked the ball off the crossbar and cameras caught Suarez celebrating wildly.

The game, which finished 1-1, was eventually decided by a penalty shootout, won 4-2 by Uruguay. Unrepentant afterwards, Suarez branded his intervention "the hand of god" -- a nod to Diego Maradona's handball goal for Argentina against England in 1986.

"Suarez cheated us," former Ghana defender John Paintsil, who played that night, told ESPN.

"I'll always remember what he did, which is not part of the rules of football. We were cheated by him. Using both hands on the line and doing it deliberately to stop us going to the semifinal, I would say Suarez wasn't a professional. He cheated."

Luis Suarez's infamous goal-line handball denied Ghana a place in the 2010 World Cup semifinal. ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images

Suarez, now 35, is part of the Uruguay squad in Qatar and could line up against the country where he's been considered a villain for more than a decade.

"It's payback," Ghana fan Joseph Dadson told ESPN. "When the draw was made everyone in Ghana thought: 'Finally a chance for revenge.'

"It was the first time Africa had hosted a World Cup and it was the first time an African team was going to go to a semifinal and it didn't happen and it was all because of Suarez. He stole it from us.

"It was devastating, and not just for Ghana but the whole of Africa. At that moment, the whole of Africa was behind Ghana and the defeat and how it happened was too much. It was devastating."

Group H

GP W D L GD PTS

1 - Portugal 2 2 0 0 +3 6

2 - Ghana 2 1 0 1 0 3

3 - South Korea 2 0 1 1 -1 1

4 - Uruguay 2 0 1 1 -2 1

Top two countries qualify for round of 16

Joseph has made the 6,000-mile (9,650km) journey from Ghana to Doha to support his team during the group stage. He will stay longer if Suarez is vanquished on Friday.

"It's a very big game," he added. "We were the better team in 2010 and it's time to finally prove it."

Whether it's Ghana or not, Paintsil is hopeful 2022 is the year an African team breaks into the last four of a World Cup.

Reigning Africa Cup of Nations champions Senegal have already booked their place in the round of 16 -- they play England on Sunday -- and Ghana are sure to follow if they can beat Uruguay.

As a continent on football's biggest stage, Africa are still playing catch-up with counterparts in Europe and South America because, up until France '98, they were only guaranteed three qualifiers, where now it's five. In 2026, when the World Cup is expanded to 48 nations, Africa will be guaranteed nine participants.

Perhaps more importantly, African players are joining Europe's top clubs with increasing regularity and in October, Senegal's Sadio Mane, once of Liverpool and now playing for Bayern Munich, was voted as the world's second-best player.

"African countries can compete with the best in the world and the sky's the limit," said Paintsil, who had spells at West Ham United, Fulham and Leicester City.

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Progress is also being made on the touchline and for the first time, each African nation at the World Cup is being managed by an African coach. Ghana are led by 47-year-old Otto Addo, who has coaching experience with Borussia Dortmund, where he was once a player.

"If you look at all the big European teams, there are African players there and we have African coaches here," Joseph said. "African success is just around the corner."

Ghana will hope that beating Uruguay can be the platform for another memorable campaign but when Paintsil sits down to watch the game, there will still be a nagging feeling of what might have been. It was Paintsil's free kick into the penalty area which prompted the chaos at the end of the clash in 2010 and it's not easily forgotten.

"I've got nothing against Suarez, he did what he did for his country," he said. "Mistakes are part of human beings but even after 12 years, I'm still disappointed with what he did.

"It was a huge thing he did for the whole of Africa, not just Ghana. Ghana would have been the first African country to be in a semifinal but the way we were going, we were going straight to the final and winning the trophy because we had so much belief.

"We felt that the whole world was behind us, not just Africa. It was a huge disappointment."

Paintsil insists that despite Ghana's history with Suarez, the Uruguayan would still be welcome in the country if he ever decided to pay a visit.

Joseph, however, is not so sure.

Could he ever forgive Suarez? "We'll see on Friday," Joseph laughed.

The countries of Switzerland and Serbia are more than 600 miles (roughly 1,000 kilometres) apart in central Europe, but when the two soccer teams go head-to-head in Group G to try to seal a spot in the 2022 World Cup round of 16 on Friday, they will 먹튀검증also be reigniting an unlikely rivalry that boiled over at the last World Cup in 2018.

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When Switzerland's Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri 메이저토토사이트scored in the 2-1 victory back in 2018, they both celebrated their goals by putting their hands together to make a two-headed eagle sign -- the thumbs represent the heads of the two eagles, while the fingers look like the feathers -- a reference to the flag of 안전토토사이트Albania. It was a controversial act and polarised opinion. FIFA fined the pair 10,000 Swiss Francs each (around $10,000) for political provocation, alongside a fine of 54,000 Swiss Francs (roughly $57,000) to Serbia's federation for discriminatory banners and chants.

Asked about his controversial celebration after the game in 2018, Shaqiri, who now plays for MLS side Chicago Fire, replied: "It's all about the excitement. ... People could give different interpretations to my jubilation. If this gesture could hurt the sensitivity of the people who watched the game ... I'm sorry."

Xhaka was also remorseful, saying: "I'm sorry for what happened and I would be stupid if I said I'd do it again. It will never happen again."

Hundreds of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo, including a government minister, raised enough money to pay their fines. But Xhaka and Shaqiri are just a couple of several international players with Kosovo-Albanian heritage playing for other international teams. Adnan Januzaj, the Belgium international, has his roots there, as does former Switzerland international Valon Behrami.

Kosovo has its own young national team, hoping to qualify for major tournaments in the future, but for now the country's fans will be full behind Switzerland on Friday.

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Granit Xhaka, left, and Xherdan Shaqiri, centre, will be key to Switzerland's hopes of progress to the next round. Dan Mullan/Getty Images

To understand this tension in more depth, we need a short history lesson.

Shaqiri and Xhaka's parents are from the now-independent Kosovo, an ethnically Albanian state (92% of the population are Albanians) that was involved in the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s -- a series of conflicts after which the former Yugoslavia was divided into independently governed countries. The last to gain independence was Kosovo, which had been under Serbian control, with the Kosovo War in 1998-99 claiming the lives of 12,000 Kosovo-Albanians and displacing an estimated 1.5 million in the region.

"A guerrilla war was organized by Kosovo Liberation Army against Serbia Army and Police, before NATO launched air strikes against what was then Yugoslavia, which ended with liberation of Kosovo and Serbia's army and police leaving," explains Kosovo-based journalist Xhemajl Rexha. "Kosovo was run by a United Nations administration up to 2008, after which it declared its independence on Feb. 17, 2008. Some 4% of the Kosovo population are ethnic Serbs, who refuse to recognize Kosovo as a state and want it to return to Serbia."

Three months after Xhaka's father, Ragip, met his wife-to-be, Elmaze. in 1986, he was imprisoned for six years for taking part in student protests against the then-Yugoslavian government in Pristina. In an interview with Blick earlier this year, Ragip talked through the ordeal, claiming he was tortured over the space of six months, having eventually seen out three-and-a-half years of his prison sentence until Amnesty International helped secure his release alongside other captives.

After he was freed, Ragip felt it was too unsafe to stay, instead heading to Switzerland in 1990 with Elmaze. In 1991, the Xhakas' first son, Taulant, was born in Basel, while Granit followed 18 months later in 1992. Both were talented footballers: Granit began his career at FC Basel but ended up heading to the German Bundesliga with Borussia Monchengladbach, then Premier League side Arsenal and chose to play for Switzerland; Taulant stayed in the Swiss league with Basel for entire his club career and opted to represent Albania internationally.

"If there is one national team [at the World Cup] which unites Kosovo-Albanians, it is Switzerland, and that is thanks to Kosovo-born Shaqiri and Xhaka." Rexha told ESPN. "Shaqiri is one of the best in history of the Swiss national team, and that it is a source of pride here. Both of them are very much connected to Kosovo. Shaqiri's boots most of the time include a Kosovo flag alongside the Swiss one. Granit comes often to Kosovo, helping local football teams with different donations. Granit often posts in Albanian on his Instagram page, and that is very much appreciated here, as a fact they, too, are very proud of their heritage."

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The match will also be an acid test of Xhaka's temperament and leadership skills. There will likely be provocation from Serbia fans in the stands, but you feel this 2022 version of Xhaka -- in the form of his life for Arsenal prior to heading to Qatar -- will handle it better than he would have done back in 2018.

In July 2022, Xhaka spoke to ESPN in an exclusive interview about his journey. He referenced the controversy around him back in October 2019 when, as Arsenal captain, he mouthed "f--- off" to the fans after he was substituted against Crystal Palace. Xhaka was stripped of the armband and came close to leaving the club at the start of 2020. In 2022, looking back, he sees that moment as "a big misunderstanding in my opinion, from them, from me. But I play football because I have a lot of passion."

The arrival of Mikel Arteta as manager persuaded Xhaka to stay and this season, he has been indispensable in their drive to the top of the Premier League. The midfielder has profited from a more advanced midfield role with the Gunners -- playing more as a No. 8, than a No. 6. -- though has been reluctant to talk up his own form.

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After scoring the winner against PSV back in October, he said: "I'm much more experienced, much more, not clever, because I don't want to label myself stupid before, but with the games, with the age, with everything else around, you become a different player, a different person. I'm so happy that everything is going how I always dreamed."

Xhaka has been the measured voice of Switzerland in Qatar; diplomatic in news conferences and a calm presence on the field. Ahead of Switzerland's opening game against Cameroon, Xhaka was asked about his father again, but he deflected the question to a Swiss spokesperson. Asked later whether he was expecting Serbia to hand out some rough justice, he answered: "We are all professionals -- every team wants to win and this is the most important thing -- we are here to play football and we are not here to educate anybody."

Xhaka was again asked about Serbia after the Cameroon match. "Serbia is a good team, they have great players," he replied. "Maybe that match will be decisive, maybe not, we will see what happens against Brazil, then we will turn to Serbia."

Meanwhile, after Serbia's match with Brazil, photos emerged of their changing room. There was a Serbia flag with an outline of the country including the independent Kosovo within its borders, containing the slogan: "We do not surrender."

Hajrulla Ceku, Kosovo's Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport wrote on Twitter in response: "Disgraceful images from Serbia locker room, displaying hateful, xenophobic and genocidal messages towards Kosova, while exploiting FIFA World Cup platform. We expect concrete actions from FIFA considering that the Kosovo Football Federation (FFK) is a full FIFA and UEFA member." FIFA has since opened disciplinary proceedings against Serbia.

Editor's note: As teams officially qualify for the round of 16, we'll add them to the list. Thursday's file now includes the teams that advanced from Groups E (Japan, Spain) and Group F (Morocco, Croatia), as well as updated odds of 메이저사이트winning it all. Check back on Friday night for information and updates on the remaining teams from G and H -- though we have included Brazil (Group G) and Portugal (Group H) as 메이저토토사이트their places are already secured -- that successfully punched their ticket to the knockouts.

A typical World Cup can feel like a marathon, but this one feels like a sprint. After a nonstop, 13-day group stage ends on Friday, there are no days 안전토토사이트off before the round of 16 begins with Netherlands vs. USA and Australia vs. Argentina on Saturday.

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Therefore, we shouldn't wait to preview the knockout rounds. While the dance card continues to fill in, let's talk about each qualifying team's biggest strengths and weaknesses: basically, the reasons they advanced, the reasons they could make a run and the fatal flaws that will probably trip them up at some point.

Let's go!

Argentina (first place, Group C)

Title odds, per FiveThirtyEight: 12%

Round of 16 opponent: Australia (Saturday, 2 p.m. ET)

Why they will win it all: They've recovered from losing to Saudi Arabia. As incredible as the Saudis' 2-1 win was last Tuesday, it was a clear and obvious "sports are dumb sometimes" outcome. Argentina attempted 15 shots worth 2.3 xG, and Saudi Arabia attempted three worth 0.2, but the latter trumped the former, and the Saudis -- to their credit -- defended wonderfully down the stretch.

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That match almost ruined two matches; manager Lionel Scaloni made a ton of lineup changes for what turned out to be a dire and unimpressive performance against Mexico. Somehow a lineup with Lionel Messi, Lautaro Martinez and Angel Di Maria attempted only five shots worth 0.3 xG, but Messi's wonderful long-range goal in the 64th minute allowed them to relax. They saw off Mexico, then dominated Poland 2-0 in a match that was closer to about 4-0 than 2-1.

There was tension and there were unforced errors, but they finished the group stage atop Group C, with the second-best xG differential in the tournament to date (behind only France). Their defense barely allowed any decent looks over three matches, and they looked the part of the contender they were supposed to be all along.

Why they won't: Boy, the vibes got dark for a minute, didn't they? Indeed, despite the fluky nature of the Saudi Arabia loss, Scaloni made five changes to his lineup to bring a performance boost to a side that probably didn't actually need one. They played far worse, according to both the stat line and the eyeballs. Messi bailed them out, and they may have gotten a long-term boost with how well younger guys like Alexis Mac Allister and Julian Alvarez played against Poland. But another bout with that sort of panic likely won't be rewarded.

Australia (second place, Group D)

Title odds, per FiveThirtyEight: <1%

Round of 16 opponent: Argentina (Saturday, 2 p.m. ET)

Why they will win it all: They take their chances. If we were being particularly cynical (or perhaps realistic), we would call the Socceroos lucky. In three group stage matches, they attempted 21 shots worth just 1.8 xG but pulled three goals from them and stole a pair of 1-0 victories from Tunisia and Denmark. They attempted fewer than half the number of shots (21) as their opponents (50) in the group stage, but advanced.

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1:10

Dawson: Nobody will want to play Australia in World Cup knockoutsRob Dawson reacts to Australia's 1-0 win over Denmark and speaks about their chances in the World Cup knockout stages.

However, one man's lucky is another's clinical. All three of their goals -- Craig Goodwin's counter-strike against France, Mitchell Duke's flick of a header against Tunisia and Mathew Leckie's weaving counter against Denmark -- were beautifully taken. Against both Tunisia and Denmark, they cluttered shooting lanes and left their opponents with low-percentage opportunities while maximizing the danger they created from minimal looks. If you don't need many chances to score, you don't need many chances to pull an upset.

Why they won't: OK, fine, they're lucky. You don't get outshot more than 2-to-1, with the second-worst xG differential (per-match) of the 32 teams, and advance very far. They got their doors blown off by France, they allowed Tunisia to attempt three of the match's four most high-value shots (per xG) while scoring on a low-percentage flick, and they have completed just 73% of their pass attempts, second lowest in the competition (ahead of Iran, who still attempted way more shots and created far more shot value). The upsets were awesome to watch, as was the giddy reaction of Australia fans both in the stands and back at home. But this run of fortune isn't going to last four more matches.

witzerland: Guaranteed to finish in the top two if they beat Serbia, and could win the group if Brazil lose as per the above scenarios.

Will qualify with a draw if Cameroon draw/lose 메이저토토사이트against Brazil.

If Switzerland draw and Cameroon win:

- Brazil win the group with six points, Cameroon 안전토토사이트and Switzerland have four points; and

-- If Cameroon win by one goal, second place will be decided on goals scored; Switzerland have scored three fewer goals than Cameroon 메이저토토(so if Cameroon win 1-0, Switzerland must draw 3-3 to make goals level and finish second on head-to-head.)

-- If Cameroon win by two or more goals, Cameroon토토사이트순위 are second and Switzerland third.

Cannot qualify with a defeat.

Cameroon: Must win to have any chance.

If both Cameroon and Serbia win:

- Brazil win the group with six points, Cameroon and Serbia both have four points; and

-- If both games are won by the same margin (for instance any by one goal, 2-1 and 1-0), Cameroon will finish second on goal difference with Serbia third.

--- Therefore, Serbia must win by a greater margin than Cameroon to finish second:

-- If this is by a greater of one goal (so 2-0 and 1-0), goal difference will be level and second place is decided on goals scored (both have scored 3 goals)

-- If goals scored are level, it will be decided on fair play.

-- If fair play is level, it's a random draw.

--- If Serbia win by a greater of two or more goals (so 3-0 and 1-0), Serbia will finish second on goal difference with Cameroon third.

Current fair play points

Cameroon: -3

Serbia: -5

If both Cameroon and Switzerland win, Cameroon are out.

If Cameroon win and Serbia-Switzerland is a draw, any Cameroon will probably be enough but by two or more goals guarantees it, as per the scenarios in the Switzerland section.

VAR review: This drills right to the very heart of the offside law, and the definition of a "deliberate play" to reset a phase. And there's a huge question안전토토사이트 over whether it went against VAR protocol.

On VAR protocol itself, referee Conger had blown for full-time. 메이저토토This doesn't prevent a VAR review, though it's poor process because the referee should hold play rather than blow the final whistle, if possible, if a review is taking place. There 토토사이트순위was ample time for the referee and the VAR team to be in communication about it.

The situation for any VAR review which results in a changed토토커뮤니티 decision is that the match, in effect, resumes at the point when the initial error occurred -- even if this is after full-time.

- Why VAR gave Lionel Messi a penalty

Therefore, the match restarted with a free kick to Tunisia, timed at the point of the Griezmann offside, and play continued for 40 seconds.

But France have protested against the disallowed goal, insisting that Conger allowed Tunisia to restart the game.

Video evidence appears to show that Conger gave one short whistle for the kickoff, followed instantly -- but with a definite gap -- by the full-time whistle. This means he has allowed play to restart and by VAR protocol it isn't possible to review the offside offence.

If the referee had blown for full-time after the goal, the review was possible. But the restart followed by the immediate full-time whistle invalidates the review.

Fault here could fall on two fronts.

Firstly, the communication between the VAR and the referee; was the referee immediately made aware there was a review ongoing about the goal?

Then, the referee himself. If the VAR isn't aware the restart has been allowed, the referee should be providing this information. Both referee and VAR should know that a review isn't possible after his restart.

The Laws of the Game states that an incorrect review doesn't invalidate a match, but France are adamant it should be a 1-1 draw.

Onto the decision itself, which is no less complicated.

Montassar Talbi tried to head the ball, but it didn't reset the offside phase. BBC

When Aurelien Tchouameni played the ball into the area, Griezmann was stood yards offside. However, the France striker made no attempt to play the ball or challenge an opponent.

Defender Montassar Talbi tried to head the ball, but he didn't get much on the clearance and it dropped to Griezmann, who scored.

If the officials believed Talbi had made a "deliberate play," the phase is reset, Griezmann is onside and the goal counts.

If the officials believed Talbi hasn't made a "deliberate play," the phase isn't reset, Griezmann remains offside from Tchouameni's pass, and the goal is disallowed.

Antoine Griezmann was clearly offside from the original pass. BBC

Essentially, a "deliberate play" is about the defender being in control of his actions. It's not purely about a player trying to kick or head a ball. If the defender has to stretch to play the ball, and can't have true influence about where it goes, that's not considered a "deliberate play." Whether a player is being challenged at that time is also a factor.

This is a hugely subjective area of the offside law, which is why referee Matthew Conger of New Zealand had to go to the pitchside monitor to make the decision.

The VAR, Abdullah al-Marri -- who was also on duty for the controversial handball penalty given to Portugal against Uruguay on Monday -- and his Qatari colleague acting as the offside VAR, Taleb al-Marri, will have advised that Talbi wasn't in control of the header and was stretching, therefore this cannot be a "deliberate play."