USA and England were eliminated from the World Cup in South Africa.

Luis Suarez’s double booked Uruguay’s place in the World Cup quarter-finals as South Korea’s adventure came to a heartbreaking end. The Asian side looked to have turned the game around when Bolton midfielder Lee Chung-Yong cancelled out Suarez’s early strike with 68 minutes gone. But amid a wintry downpour at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, the Ajax striker curled home a brilliant winner 10 minutes from time to confirm Oscar Tabarez’s side as the first team to reach the last eight.

Asamoah Gyan kept the African flag flying at the World Cup with a spectacular left-foot strike in extra-time to take Ghana through to their first quarter-final. It was the second time in successive World Cups that Ghana had defeated the United States, having effectively dumped them out of the tournament four years ago by beating them in the final group game. Gyan’s goal, after 93 minutes, was worthy of winning any game after he outmuscled USA captain Carlos Bocanegra to blast his shot past goalkeeper Tim Howard.

It settled a contest that was level at full time after Landon Donovan’s second-half penalty cancelled out a fifth-minute strike from Kevin-Prince Boateng.

England were hammered 4-1 by Germany in the second round of the World Cup, but the After Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski had put Germany 2-0 up early on, Matthew Upson got one back but then Frank Lampard’s goal was ruled out after the ball bounced down off the bar, despite it landing a yard over the line.. Everyone in the ground, except the men who mattered, knew what had happened. Klose and Podolski’s first half-goals were doubled by a pair from the excellent Thomas Muller after the break as Germany made the most of their good fortune to book a quarter-final place, with what turned out to be their biggest win over a rival they have not lost to in a major tournament since the 1966 final.

Argentina also made it through to a quarter final match up against the Germans courtesy of a 3-1 win and more refereeing controversy. Carlos Tevez’s opener for Argentina against Mexico was yards offside. However, after Gonzalo Higuain’s second, no-one could argue with his rocket shot that put Argentina three up before Javier Hernandez hit back with his own stunner.