Such is life, you can’t choose what your earliest World Cup memory is. The very nature of the notion means that it almost certainly has to be something of great significance that happened, for better or for worse.
For Bristol City striker Antoine Semenyo, rather unfortunately, it’s that quarter-final against Uruguay at South Africa in 2010. The Black Stars were on the cusp of becoming the first African team to reach the last four in the tournament’s history only for Asamoah Gyan to strike a last-minute penalty against the crossbar.
The game went to a penalty shoot-out and Uruguay held their nerve to progress. Of course, it was much more than just a penalty miss by Gyan - a legend in his homeland - it was the incident that led up to it as Luis Suarez cleared Dominic Adiyah's off the line, deliberately with his hand, sacrificing his involvement in the game to keep his side in the contest.
Suarez was then captured celebrating wildly outside the tunnel as Gyan’s spot-kick rattled the bar and flew over - an image forever burnished on the national consciousness and which Semenyo admits still leaves a sense of “bitterness”.
To say it’s added extra needle to Friday’s Group H decider is an understatement. This is a grudge match Ghana have building towards since the draw was made in April, and a chance to heal 12 years of hurt, as victory would send them into the last 16 at the expense of the South Americans.
“I hate to say this but when we played against Uruguay,” Semenyo said, when asked of his earliest World Cup memory. “Asomah Gyan missed a penalty. It was one of the main highlights I had. Hopefully, we can change that.
“We still have that bitterness, 100 per cent. We definitely want to go into that game fiery and get the result. We will do whatever we can or do to get the result.
“Football in Ghana is massive. When we get an opportunity to be on the world stage like this. The population are going to be supporting us. We’re doing it for them as well as ourselves. I’m happy they are supporting us and we’ll do the best we can.”
Semenyo was a late substitute for Ghana’s opener against Portugal and then was an unused substitute in the thrilling 3-2 win over South Korea, so is likely to remain on the bench for Friday’s concluding fixture.
That Suarez incident has formed the backdrop to the encounter at Al Janoub Stadium in Al Wakrah, as Ghana, Uruguay and South Korea, who play confirmed qualifiers Portugal, all with a shot of taking their tournament into another week.
A Ghanaian journalist fully laid out the context to Suarez on Thursday when he asked the veteran if he was aware he was viewed as “the devil himself” to Ghana fans, to which the Nacional forward declined the opportunity to apologise, saying: "I did the handball, but the Ghana player missed the penalty, not me.
“Maybe I would apologise if I did a tackle, injured a player and took a red card. But in this situation... it's not my fault. I didn't miss the penalty. The player who missed the penalty, he would do the same. It's not my responsibility how he shot the penalty."
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