Sport

RUSTENBURG, South Africa (AP):

Asamoah Gyan scored in the third minute of extra-time yesterday to give Ghana a 2-1 win over the United States and make them only the third African team to reach the World Cup quarter-finals.

The teams were level at 1-1 through 90 minutes at Royal Bafokeng Stadium before Gyan ran onto a long pass and held off defenders Carlos Bocanegra and Jay DeMerit to smash a left-foot shot over goalkeeper Tim Howard from about 12 metres.

Ghana will now meet Uruguay in the next round at Soccer City on Friday.

"Yeah, third African country qualified for the quarter-finals," Gyan said. "We've made everybody proud. Not Ghana alone, the whole of Africa."

Kevin-Prince Boateng had put Ghana ahead in the fifth minute with a low shot from the edge of the area. He ran into space that opened as DeMerit kept retreating, then sent a ferocious shot that beat the diving Howard at his near post.

Equalised

Landon Donovan equalised with a 62nd-minute penalty after Jonathan Mensah got his second yellow card of the tournament, ruling him out of the quarter-finals, for swiping away Clint Dempsey's legs as he broke from deep.

Donovan crouched in contemplation as he prepared to take the penalty kick, picking at the grass and ignoring the players around him before getting up to steer his kick in off the right-hand post.

It was Donovan's US-record fifth goal at the World Cup and 45th in international football.

The United States threw Howard into attack for injury time at the end of the match, but Ghana goalkeeper Richard Kingson punched the ball away from a corner and the Americans never came any closer.

"I really felt when we got to 1-1 there were some chances for us," United States coach Bob Bradley said. "Early in the overtime we go down again early. At that point, with everything we put into the game early, we didn't have enough after that."

Both teams created enough chances to have won the game in normal time, with Ghana dominating the first 45 minutes before Bradley stabilised his team at half-time with the second of two substitutions.

United States midfielder Ricardo Clark, recalled to the starting line-up in an attempt to add solidity to the American midfield, had given Ghana its first real opening when he gave the ball away under pressure in the centre circle.

Ghana defended in numbers to deny space for the likes of Donovan and Dempsey to attack from deep, and countered swiftly through Boateng, Dede Ayew, Kwadwo Asamoah and Gyan when it did win possession.

Clark got a yellow card and only played until the 31st before Bradley withdrew him for Maurice Edu. Bradley then took off Robbie Findley at half-time, undoing the other of the two personnel changes he had made to his starting line-up.

Although Boateng curled a shot over the bar and Gyan put wide a long-range effort, the United States started to piece together some good attacks and Dempsey and substitute Benny Feilhaber were both denied only by well-timed tackles in the area.

Ayew will also miss the next round after picking up a booking.

The west African players seemed to have learned their lesson from the last World Cup when they attacked Brazil too freely in their second-round meeting and were beaten 3-0 by the five-time world champions.

After reaching the final of last year's Confederations Cup in South Africa, the United States had high hopes of emulating its 2002 feat of making it to the World Cup quarter-finals. But Ghana eliminated the Americans for a second straight tournament, having won 2-1 in a 2006 group game to reach the round of 16 in Germany.

There were almost as many England flags as there were Stars and Stripes on display by fans around the stadium, with many English fans having bought tickets in expectation of seeing their team.