Wright labels Uruguay star Cavani a ‘horrible guy’ after his ‘terrible behaviour’ in Ghana aftermath
Ian Wright has labelled former Manchester United striker Edinson Cavani a “horrible guy” after he was seen knocking over a VAR monitor in Uruguay’s win over Ghana.
Two first half goals from Giorgio de Arrascaeta, after Sergio Rochet saved Andre Ayew’s penalty, looked like sending Uruguay through as Group H runners up with a 2-0 win over Ghana.
But Hwang Hee-chan’s late goal gave South Korea a 2-1 victory over Portugal to secure second spot and dump Uruguay out on Friday.
Uruguay – who needed another goal to progress – had a late appeal for a penalty turned down, with VAR also looking at the tackle, after Cavani went down in the box under a challenge from Alidu Seidu.
All three pundits in the BBC Sport studio agreed it should have been a penalty with former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino the first to give his view.
Pochettino said: “Sure, for me it is a penalty. It was clever from him to wait for the challenge.”
Former Newcastle and England striker Alan Shearer agreed: “It is a penalty. There is no anticipating what VAR is thinking.”
Before former Man Utd defender Rio Ferdinand added: “There is contact, it is a penalty. Normally they would send the referee to go and have a look. They could not have seen the pictures we saw.”
Footage emerged after the match of Cavani pushing over a VAR monitor as he walked down the tunnel with ITV Sport pundit Wright far from impressed.
“Wow, what a horrible guy!” Wright said.
Fellow pundit Joe Cole added: “It’s terrible behaviour. You feel your frustration when you lose games of football, but you have to keep your composure because you have a responsibility.
“The world is watching, kids are watching. You can accept a little blow up, but four or five players are around the referee, it is not a good look.”
De Arrascaeta struck twice in six first-half minutes, heading in from close range before finishing off a flowing move with a low volley, after Ayew was denied from the spot.
The result for Uruguay was never in doubt after that but they could not find a third goal with Federico Valverde denied by Lawrence Ati-Zigi before former Liverpool and Sunderland defender Sebastian Coates poked wide late on.
Mohammed Kudus went close for Ghana, who knew a win would have sent them through, but the Black Stars are also knocked out.
Daniel Amartey admits that it was important to him and the Ghana team to stop Uruguay from qualifying for the knockout rounds after Luis Suarez’s handball helped knock them out of the 2010 World Cup.
“I just told my teammates that we need a goal now, but they need a goal now, so we have to defend for ourselves so that if we can’t go, they don’t go,” Amartey told reporters.
When asked whether it was important to stop Uruguay from advancing to the round of 16, Amartey replied.”For me, yes.
“It was tough because you can see their centre back; everybody comes (forward). Uruguay needed one goal to go through, and you can see we defend four against five or three against two, but we managed to defend.”
