Kevin Prince Boateng put Ghana ahead when he stripped the ball from Ricardo Clark in the 5th minute and beat goalkeeper Tim Howard from 16 yards. [break]
Once again, the US came back, and Landon Donovan tied the score with a penalty kick in the 62nd minute after Jonathan Mensah pulled down Clint Dempsey streaking in. But no matter how much the Americans pressured after Gyan scored, they couldn´t tie it again.
In the first-ever extra time World Cup game for the US, Gyan got the winning goal when he took a long ball from Andre Ayew over the defense and beat US captain Carlos Bocanegra, his teammate on the French club Rennes. Gyan let the ball bounce, took a touch with his chest, and with Jay DeMerit vainly trying to catch up, scored over goalkeeper Tim Howard with a left-footed shot from 16 yards.
There was no late magic this time to equal Donovan´s injury-time goal against Algeria that moved the Americans into the second round. The closest the US came to tying it again was in the 98th minute, when Maurice Edu´s header off Donovan´s corner kick went wide.
With Howard pushed up, DeMerit´s desperation long shot in the final minutes went over the crossbar. Then Dempsey sent a header wide.
At the final whistle, Howard consoled Bocanegra and Maurice Edu collapsed to the ground. Donovan exchanged jerseys with a Ghana player and walked off the field, put on a coat, sat on the bunch and hung his head.
Meanwhile, the only African team left in the tournament celebrated moving into the quarterfinals against Uruguay on Friday in Johannesburg.
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