Gyan sends Ghana into last eight

Asamoah Gyan struck a fine goal three minutes into extra time as Ghana beat the United States 2-1 to go through to the FIFA World Cup quarter-finals for the first time.

Kevin-Prince Boateng had given the Black Stars a dream start, but the tide appeared to have turned when Landon Donovan equalised from the penalty spot after the hour. Gyan saw it differently. With extra time in its infancy the striker collected André Ayew's innocuous long ball forward, shrugged off Carlos Bocanegra's shoulder barge and fired high into the net to set up a meeting with Uruguay next Friday.

At half-time in Rustenburg Ghana's place in the last eight barely looked in question as the US struggled to cope with their slick passing. A fifth-minute goal helped, Boateng firing low into the bottom corner after Ricardo Clark had been caught in possession just inside the American half. Bob Bradley's side are not short on resilience, however, and after rejigging his team the coach enjoyed immediate improvement.

Robbie Findley and half-time replacement Benny Feilhaber forced good saves out of Richard Kingson. The goalkeeper could do nothing about Donovan's spot kick, fired in off the post after Jonathan Mensah had brought down Clint Dempsey, but was soon performing heroics again, denying Michael Bradley to force extra time – Gyan did the rest.