John Paintsil
John Paintsil

Former Black Stars defender, John Paintsil, says Ghana’s game against Uruguay at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will be a mouth-watering tie to watch.

Ghana, having qualified ahead of Nigeria, has been pitched in Group H alongside Portugal, Uruguay and South Korea.

The former West Ham defender was part of the Black Stars side beaten on penalties by the South Americans in the quarter-finals of the 2010 World Cup tournament in Brazil.

The match famously saw Uruguay forward Luis Suarez sent off at the end of the second half of extra-time after a handball on the goal line with Asamoah Gyan then missing a crucial spot-kick which would have made the West Africans the continent’s first World Cup semi-finalists.

Ghana will open their campaign against Portugal on November 24 at Stadium 974 in Doha.

Four days later, the Black Stars return to action with a clash with South Korea at the Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan.

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“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, 40, 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,” he added.

Ghana will wrap up their group stage adventure with their much-anticipated encounter with Uruguay at Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah.

The Black Stars having missed out in the last edition hosted in Russia in 2018 will be hoping to improve their performance in Qatar after exiting at the group phase during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.