RUSTENBURG // "The Hope of Africa" reads the slogan splashed across the Ghana team bus, and it has never been so true as it was last night as Asamoah Gyan's extra-time winner saw them beat the United States and set up a quarter-final encounter with Uruguay.
With the scores level at 1-1 after normal time, a long ball over the top from Andre Ayew three minutes into the extra period was controlled well by Gyan and the Rennes striker held off Carlos Bocanegra, the US captain, before smashing past keeper Tim Howard for his third goal of the tournament to give the Black Stars victory.
It sent the passionate "home" support wild, with a cacophony of traditional drums and ear-piercing vuvuzelas tooting even louder, as the host nation's supporters got behind their neighbours, the continent's last remaining representative at Africa's first World Cup.
The Ghanaians had looked much the better side for most of the game and appeared set when they opened the scoring early on. With both teams still settling, Ricardo Clark, the Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder, was dispossessed in the centre of the park and Kevin Prince Boateng, Ghana's German-born midfielder, collected the ball and ran menacingly at Jay DeMerit.
With the Watford centre-half back-peddling, Boateng struck neatly into the corner with his left foot to provide the Black Stars with their first goal from open play at this tournament. The US, positioned 18 places above their opponents in Fifa's world rankings, were rattled and failed to genuinely threaten.
Jozy Altidore, America's 20-year-old forward, and Robbie Findley, returning from suspension, were struggling to impose themselves. Bradley showed that he was not afraid to take decisive action.
Clark, at fault for the goal and having been booked for a challenge on Boateng shortly afterwards, was hauled off, replaced by Maurice Edu. As the 27-year-old left the field, he was consoled by his boss before taking his seat with tears filling his eyes.
Robbie Findley came closest for the United States - his shot while one-on-one with Richard Kingson being well blocked by the goalkeeper - but still it was Ghana who looked more likely to score.
Kwadwo Asamoah enjoying success down the right side, got the better of DeMerit late in the first half, but the Udinese winger's goal-bound effort was well stopped by the strong right hand of Howard.
Bradley made a further change at half-time, introducing Benny Feilhaber in place of Findley and the substitute almost scored in his side's first attack. Clint Dempsey's cross was touched on by Altidore, whose lay-off landed at the feet of the Aarhus midfielder. But his finish was smartly stopped by Kingson.
It was a harbinger of things to come for the Ghanaians as the US pressed for the equaliser. Landon Donovan, the scorer of America's last-minute goal against Algeria that put them into the last 16, was starting to force his way into the game.
The breakthrough came when Ghana's Jonathan Mensah, a crowd favourite because he plays for South Africa's Free State Stars, bundled Dempsey over in the area and Donovan stepped up to net from the spot, his shot going in of the right post.
Now the US were in the ascendancy and Milovan Rajevac, Ghana's Serbian coach, threw on Lee Addy in a bid to give his side balance.
The result was both teams playing with real attacking desire, yet it was the Americans who came closest in regular time - Altidore did what he does best and chased a hopeful ball, nudging a defender aside before watching his shot slide past the wrong side of Kingson's upright.
Extra time was forced and Gyan's moment of magic came just three minutes in. The Americans, who lost 2-1 to Ghana in the group stage in 2006, looked beaten as their opponents refused to let them get a foot on the ball.
As the whistle went, Bradley's men collapsed to their knees heartbroken. In contrast, Ghana's players - and much of the colourful crowd - erupted in jubilation, for it is Africa that will now meet Uruguay at Soccer City on Friday.
@Email:gmeenaghan@thenational.ae
Man of the match:Andrew Ayew (Ghana)
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Three ways to limit your social media use
Clinical psychologist, Dr Saliha Afridi at The Lighthouse Arabia suggests three easy things you can do every day to cut back on the time you spend online.
1. Put the social media app in a folder on the second or third screen of your phone so it has to remain a conscious decision to open, rather than something your fingers gravitate towards without consideration.
2. Schedule a time to use social media instead of consistently throughout the day. I recommend setting aside certain times of the day or week when you upload pictures or share information.
3. Take a mental snapshot rather than a photo on your phone. Instead of sharing it with your social world, try to absorb the moment, connect with your feeling, experience the moment with all five of your senses. You will have a memory of that moment more vividly and for far longer than if you take a picture of it.
The%20specs
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VEZEETA PROFILE
Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
MATCH INFO
CAF Champions League semi-finals first-leg fixtures
Tuesday:
Primeiro Agosto (ANG) v Esperance (TUN) (8pm UAE)
Al Ahly (EGY) v Entente Setif (ALG) (11PM)
Second legs:
October 23
What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
