World Cup was the first time that the FIFA World Cup was staged in Africa, with South Africa being the hosts and thus qualifying automatically, to be a sixth African team in the draw alongside the now-regular five who made it through the qualifying process. Their national team became the first World Cup hosts to get knocked out in the first round, though only on goal difference after a draw with Mexico in their opening match (in which South Africa's Katlego Mphela hit the post in the last minute), then a 3-0 loss to Uruguay followed by a 2-1 win over France (in which Mphela was again unlucky, scoring one of the goals but being denied three more by two fine saves and the woodwork again): Mexico finished second ahead of them by virtue of a smaller loss to Uruguay and a larger win over France. Nigeria, Algeria, Ivory Coast and Cameroon also exited the tournament after the Group stages. However, Ghana progressed beyond the group stages of the FIFA World Cup for the second time in a row, and defeated the U.S. 2–1 after extra time in the Round of 16, which saw them reach the quarter-finals, becoming the third African nation to do so. In the quarter-finals, they were eliminated by Uruguay. Ghana were defeated by Uruguay on penalties after Luis Suárez controversially handballed on the goal line deep into extra time, denying Ghana an almost certain winning goal. The penalty that followed was missed by Asamoah Gyan. Had Ghana won their quarter final they would have become the very first African nation to progress to the semifinals of the world cup. Of the 32 countries that participated in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, FIFA ranked Ghana 7th. 2014: Algeria and Nigeria: 2 African teams to the Round of 16 The 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil marked the first time more than one African team went beyond the group stages. While Ghana and Cameroon both collected disappointing results (apart from Ghana's 2–2 draw with later champions Germany, which saw them becoming the only team not to lose against the Germans in the entire tournament) and eventually ended fourth in their group, Ivory Coast were also knocked out in the first round after a last-minute penalty kick against Greece and ended third in Group C, above Japan, whom they had defeated 2–1 in their first match. Africa's pride,