Update

Côte d'Ivoire played impressively in their last group match against North Korea, but ultimately their 3-0 victory over North Korea proved insufficient as Portugal, in one of the dullest confrontations of the tournament so far, drew 0-0 with Brazil to take them one point clear of the West African hopefuls. The Elephants will be able to take away positives from their World Cup experience, with two strong performances, but you do have to wonder what they might have achieved in any of the other groups.

This means that Ghana are carrying the hopes of Africa with them in their quarter-final against Uruguay this Friday. The Black Stars have impressed this year, in spite of a group stage loss to Germany- victory over an impressive Serbian team and a passionate display in the last 16 against the USA have so far seen them equal the best World Cup performance by an African team, following Cameroon (1990) and Senegal (2002) to be the third African team to reach the quarter-final stage of a World Cup.

They will have to be on top of their game to proceed beyond Uruguay. The South Americans are on form this tournament, and apart from a shaky start against a French team that had yet to collapse into anarchy they have won every game they have played. On the other hand, it could be argued that they have not really been tested yet- and the questions posed of their defence by the South Korean team on Saturday indicate that it is not impossible to score against them. If the Black Stars can replicate the form they showed in the first half against the USA, they will definitely be in with a chance!