Giorgian de Arrascaeta bagged a brace on Friday night to demolish Ghana's hopes of reaching the knockout stages at the World Cup. And until South Korea scored in the first minute of second-half stoppage time to snatch a 2-1 victory over Portugal, the double was shaping up to propel Uruguay into the last-16.
In the end, there was shared despair at the Al Janoub Stadium. Ghana, for fluffing their big opportunity to reach the last-16 for the first time since 2010 and Uruguay for not exploiting the fragility of their opponents during a catastrophic first-half.
De Arrascaeta struck twice in six minutes to wrest the contest from a Ghana side that enjoyed the first signifcant chance to take the lead with a penalty in the 21st minute.
Uruguay goalkeeper Sergio Rochet was adjudged to have fouled Mohammed Kudus as he followed up Jordan Ayew's shot from the edge of the penalty area.
Ayew's brother, André, stepped up for the spot kick but hit his shot weakly and Rochet parried.
The reprieve emboldened Uruguay.
And Uruguay skipper Luis Suarez - a hate figure in Ghana for handling on the line in the dying seconds of the 2010 World Cup quarter-finals - was instrumental in the opener following slapstick defending from Alidu Seidu and Daniel Amartey who both failed to cut out Darwin Nunez's cross from the right.
Chance
Suarez gleefully accepted the issue of their gawkiness and powered a drive towards the bottom left hand corner of Lawrence Ati-Zigi's goal.
Though he blocked the effort, de Arrascaeta nodded the ball into the empty net.
The second, just after the half hour mark, was a tad more refined: Suarez flicked the ball up on the edge of the box and de Arrascaeta volleyed home.
For the rest of the half, Ghana appeared to have accepted their fate. The Ayews - the only players in the squad with experience of the World Cup - hustled gamely but failed to rally the troops.
Change
Coach Otto Addo replaced them with Kamal-Deen Sulemana and Osman Bukari for the second-half.
The changes altered little. Ghana flickered fitfully. Twelve minutes from time, Antoine Semenyo, on for the disappointing Inaki Williams, dragged a shot just wide of Rochet's left hand post and the goalkeeper was sharp minutes later to get down and push Kudus's shot round the pos as Ghana sought a breakthrough to cause a frisson in the Uruguay rearguard.
But it was the forward line that was needed. Five minutes from time, the giant screen showed the score of the match between Portugal and South Korea at the Education City Stadium.
Game
Uruguay urgently needed a third goal after Hee-chan Hwang's strike gave South Korea the lead. They had eight minutes of stoppage time to win a second match.
As Suarez looked on impotently from the bench, his teammates poured forward.
Ati-Zigi thwarted Maximiliano Gomez. Rochet stopped a Ghanaian riposte. When the frenzy ended, the antagonists could at least console each other in mutual agony.
A fitting vignette for the Fifa boss Gianni Infantino who insists football brings people together.
