FIFA 2010 World Cup: Ghana vs. Uruguay, some of the best finishes in Sports
The truly great sporting contests in the world usually have unbelievable endings that bring absolute heartbreak for one team and absolute elation for the other. A similar match was played last night between the Black Stars of Ghana and a very strong Uruguay team in the FIFA 2010 World Cup. What makes great matches really great is when they have the most exciting endings that make a person stand up and almost have a heart attack from the excitement. Many matches over the years have seen similar endings and these matches are the ones that get written about and enter the history books.
The match that the underdogs Ghana played yesterday against a much stronger Uruguay team was a match that will be talked about for years and years to come. With the match at 1-1 at the end of the allotted 90 minutes, the match went into overtime. In the last seconds of overtime Ghana were awarded a free kick that came into the box and after a bit of scrambling was headed into the goal. Luis Suarez, standing on the goal line used his hands to keep the ball out of the goal and Ghana was awarded a penalty. Asamoah Gyan came up to take the penalty and with all of Africa and the world looking at him, he hit the crossbar and missed the penalty. This was the first heartbreak for the Black Stars. The match was surely won if that penalty had gone in but it did not and the match went to penalties.
With two saved penalties by Uruguay's goalkeeper, the match was won by Uruguay. This was probably the most devastating and heartbreaking match of this current World Cup and no other match will probably come close to being as exciting as this one for a long time to come.
Other matches have had very exciting endings as well over the years. One of the greatest tennis matches ever to be played took place during this year's Wimbledon tournament. It was played between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut and is the longest match ever to be played in the history of tennis. It was an epic three day match that lasted for 11 hours and 5 minutes. The final set alone lasted 8 hours and 11 minutes being longer than the previous longest entire match in tennis history. This intense contest ended with a massive backhand from Isner to end the greatest match in tennis. The final score of the match was 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (3), 70-68. It is tragic that one person has to lose a match like this one but they do and even though one person has lost they are never a loser, they are part of history and can hold their head up high.
Other great endings have taken place in baseball and in basketball. During the 1988 World Series the A's were playing against the Dodgers and the match was almost won by the A's and they had only one chance to win and that was their best player; Kirk Gibson. The problem was that Gibson was injured and should not have played. He started practising his swings and could be heard groaning and moaning every time he swung the bat. But he stood there anyway and when the pitch came to him his right hand left the bat and he hit a home run with only one hand and won the game for his team. It was his determination and inner strength that allowed him to fight through the pain and win the game.
During the 1987 NBA Eastern Conference Final between the Detroit Pistons and the Boston Celtics, the Pistons were leading by one point. All they had to do was hold onto the ball with the clock running down. But Larry Bird, the Celtics legend, came out of nowhere and stole the ball from a Pistons player and passed the ball up-court to a team mate who scored for the win. The Celtics won the game and the Championship in dramatic fashion.
These kinds of endings to sports matches are the best and are a big reason why so many people love sports so much. The passion and excitement cannot be achieved by anything else in the world. Hopefully more matches will come in the future that will rival some of the examples given above.
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