The Uruguay coach, Diego Alonso, blamed the penalty given to Portugal in their second group game for his side’s exit from the World Cup. A 2-0 win over Ghana on Friday was not enough to take second place in the group, South Korea’s victory over Portugal meaning they finished above Uruguay on goals scored. There was penalty controversy – again – against Ghana, with two extremely good appeals ruled out by the German official, Daniel Siebert, in the second half. Uruguay’s players furiously surrounded the referee at the end and, after André Ayew had a penalty saved for Ghana in the first half, Federico Valverde had run up to Siebert to celebrate, but Alonso was more exercised about the previous game. José María Giménez fell in challenging Bruno Fernandes, the ball striking his hand as he did so. Ifab’s guidelines specifically state that that should not be given as a foul but the VAR official, Abdullah al-Marri, of Qatar instructed the Iranian referee, Alireza Faghani, to review the decision, after which he gave the penalty from which Portugal made it 2-0. Had that game finished 1-0, Uruguay would have gone through. “We are out because of the penalty for Portugal and what it did to the goal difference,” Alonso said. “That was awarded but according to Fifa was not a penalty.” Exactly what communication there has been remains unclear. “I would have liked to see this version of Uruguay before but this is what happened,” Alonso went on. “I don’t have anything to say to my players: they broke their backs and gave their best selves. Everyone can see what happened in previous match.” He said it was too early to talk about his future, but the Ghana coach, Otto Addo, is leaving the national team. “When I started last year,” he said, “it was clear that I would stop after the World Cup. My family and I see my future in Germany. We are very happy there. I said when we qualified that I would resign after.” He urged fans not to blame Ayew for missing the penalty. “There is nobody who hasn’t missed a penalty,” he said. “People who don’t know much about football will give that person the blame.”