JOHANNESBURG: Ghana will carry the hopes of Africa when it takes on the United States in the World Cup round of 16 on Saturday.
The Black Stars are the only African team to have survived this far.
Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria and host nation South Africa have all been eliminated in the first World Cup in Africa.
Midfielder Sulley Muntari doesn’t seem to be weighed down by the expectations, saying the Ghanaians want to at least reach the semifinals, which no African team has done before.
"We want to do it for Africa. We want to break records," Muntari said.
First, though, Ghana must get past a tight-knit US team with a never-say-die attitude.
The Americans won Group C in spectacular fashion, with Landon Donovan scoring an injury-time goal against Algeria to see his team through to the second round.
In previous matches, the US held England 1-1 and recovered from two goals down to draw Slovenia 2-2, with a third American goal disallowed in the final minutes.
"I wish we could understand it better but for whatever reason we seem to grow in strength and confidence as the game goes on," goalkeeper Tim Howard said. "Now I’ve just got to figure out and make sure we don’t concede early."
Ghana lost its final Group D match 1-0 to Germany but advanced anyway thanks to Australia, which beat Serbia 2-1 in a simultaneous match.
The Ghanaians beat Serbia 1-0 in the opener and drew 1-1 with Australia in game two.
A four-time African champion, Ghana is in the World Cup for only the second time.
It beat the United States 2-1 in the final group stage match in 2006, eliminating the Americans from the tournament. Ghana lost 3-0 to Brazil in the round of 16.
Led by Serb coach Milovan Rajevac, Ghana is hoping to do even better this time, despite the absence of injured star Michael Essien.
US coach Bob Bradley called Ghana a "talented team, athletic team, mobile, we all know the types of players Ghana has produced, great youth teams they’ve had and done a great job of turning into very good teams at the full national team level."
A US win at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg would put the Americans in the quarterfinals, something it managed in 2002.
With two victories, the Americans would advance to the semifinals for the first time since the original World Cup in 1930, when only 13 nations played.
"Two more wins would be great for us," striker Jozy Altidore said. "But why not four more? Anything’s possible. I mean, we’re in it to win it."
South Korea will attempt to end a five-match winless streak against Uruguay when the teams meet Saturday in the round of 16 at the World Cup.
Uruguay is 4-1-0 against South Korea, including a 1-0 win in the 1990 World Cup when Daniel Fonseca scored in the 90th minute that put the South Americans into the round of 16.
"We watched a few of Uruguay’s games, they have quality and they are strong and their performances were great in the group stages," South Korea midfielder Park Ji-sung said. "We have to prepare well."
It is the second time South Korea has advanced to the knockout stage in eight World Cup appearances. The other time was in 2002 when it reached the semifinals in the tournament it co-hosted with Japan.
"Our goal was to reach the last 16," Park added. "It really is fantastic to write a new chapter in the history of Korean football. We succeeded in doing this for the first time away from home."
In the first round, Uruguay won twice — 3-0 over South Africa and 1-0 over Mexico — and played a scoreless draw with France. The win over Mexico clinched top spot in Group A.
"The important thing is that we qualified in first place," Uruguay striker Diego Forlan said.
South Korea, the second-place finishers in Group B, beat Greece 2-0 in its first match, lost 4-1 to powerful Argentina and drew 2-2 with Nigeria.
Argentina beat Uruguay twice in South American qualifying.
Uruguay, a two-time World Cup champion, is bidding for its first quarterfinal berth since 1970.
