A handball on the goal-line by Luis Suarez prevented Ghana's Dominic Adiyiah from scoring in the last minute and Asamoah Gyan missed the penalty - with Uruguay triumphing in the shoot-out to make the World Cup semis of the 2010 World Cup.
Suarez was sent off while Ghana were given a penalty, Gyan hit the crossbar with his spot-kick to send the match into a penalty shoot-out, which Uruguay won 4-2.
The South Americans' goalkeeper Fernando Muslera was the hero, saving twice from John Mensah, the then Sunderland centre-back, and Adiyiah, in the shoot-out.
Sulley Muntari, almost sent home earlier on in the tournament after a bust-up with ex-Ghana's Serbian coach Milovan Rajevac, had given his side the lead before Diego Forlan equalised with a viciously-swerving free-kick for his third goal of the finals.
The result devastated the African continent that had hoped to see one of its teams write itself into the history books.