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Oh football, why do you have to be such a cruel, cruel game. How is it that a country with 3.5 million people can dash the hopes of an entire continent in an instant of sinister gamesmanship? Suarez will probably have a statue erected of him in Montevideo for his crude quick thinking, which left Africa silenced. Mortified.

Who feared the World Cup might lull once Bafana Bafana was eliminated? The tournament just keeps getting better and better.

I’m now in the more intimate surrounds of Cape Town’s city centre, where amidst the trendy stretch of bars and cafes on Long Street and quirky alleys and markets, the flair and colour of the World Cup is firing. Johannesburg might be the Games’ hub, but the people of Cape Town are revelling in the excitement under the shadows of Table Mountain. Lines run for hundreds of metres outside the Fan Zone on Game Day. Markets brim with vuvuzelas, African crafts, World Cup paintings, Bafana Bafana jerseys, national flags and until now… no shortage of Ghanaian jerseys, flags, hats, socks, face paint colours for the locals to adopt.

For a moment, Ghana belonged to everyone in South Africa. Crowds went ballistic at the Africans’ every half chance, every Richard Kingson parry and every Uruguay mistake.

And the city was ready to erupt as Asamoah Gyan turned for his run up.

Everyone in our bar stood arm in arm. This was Africa’s Cup, after all.

The locals – either still in their Bafana Bafana yellow, or draped in some Ghanaian paraphernalia -and foreigners included, were expectant.

Then we slumped. Together, we all slumped.

It wasn’t supposed to be.

Now a country that could not beat Australia four years ago is in the World Cup semi-final.

Gyan was a brave man to step up and take the first penalty in the shootout; if the Ghanaians were as flat as the crowd, their powerful striker’s redemption was the only way they could get themselves back up and revved for the shootout.

But that still wasn’t enough. The Uruguayan’s (despite losing to us five years ago) are icemen.

In the end, they’ve cruised through to the final four without really being pushed by a big country, and in a World Cup that has rewarded team work, mobility and organisation, Uruguay has been a yardstick. Stingy for five games straight.

Despite the lull in the room, the absent party in the street, and the realisation that Uruguay – Uruguay!! – is a shot of making the World Cup final – last night’s match was an absolute cracker.

They will now struggle without Lugano and Suarez – two crucial players in their spine – but they are organised and shrewd enough to cramp, stifle, harry and niggle the Dutch and destroy the tempo of the match.

And in the end, they have Diego Forlan.

We were left waiting for Kaka to arrive four hours earlier, but Forlan has been the South American superstar. With him in their line up, anything can happen.

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