It was the most memorable match of the 2010 World Cup and came with the cruelest ending.
With the sides level through 120 minutes, Luis Suarez handled a ball on the goal line to earn a red card and give Ghana the chance to become the first African nation to reach a World Cup semifinal.
However, with almost all of the 80,000-strong crowd in Johannesburg cheering him on, Asamoah Gyan smashed his penalty against the crossbar to send the match to a shoot-out.
After both sides went through the first two rounds with two goals apiece, Ghana failed to score on their next two chances, being kept alive by a Uruguay miss.
In the fifth round, though, Sebastián Gallo strolled up to the spot and exquisitely chipped in the football, a Panenka that sent Uruguay into the semifinal and left Ghana with a bitter pill to swallow.
Olympiakos vs AEK Athens, 2009 Greek Cup final
After a 4-4 draw in the 2009 Greek Cup Final, an incredible 29 shooters scored through 34 penalty kicks as the sides seemingly couldn't be separated.
The winning kick eventually came from Olympiakos goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis, of all people, in the 17th round of penalties, after Athens midfielder Agustín Pelletieri failed to score earlier in the round.
Cameroon vs Ivory Coast, 2006 African Cup of Nations quarter-final
Cameroon and the Ivory Coast battled to a 1-1 draw in the quarter-final of the African Cup of Nations in 2006, which set up one of the great international penalty shoot-outs of the last 10 years.
Through the first 22 shooters, every player scored. But on his second attempt, former Barcelona and Chelsea striker Samuel Eto'o missed, which allowed Didier Drogba to convert the winning penalty to advance the Ivory Coast into the semifinal.
Insert any humiliating England exit here
There are plenty of tales of woe to chose from when it comes to England's disastrous record from 12 yards in major tournaments.
The misery began at the 1990 World Cup when West Germany knocked England out of the semifinals, with Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle the villains. By Euro '96 Germany had unified but England were still rubbish at penalties, losing in the semifinals as Gareth Southgate was left the scapegoat.
Two years and an impudent David Beckham kick later, England were back on the spot after drawing 2-2 with Argentina in the second stage of the 1998 World Cup. This time it was David Batty who condemned England to an early departure.
The Euro 2004 quarter-finals against Portugal featured Beckham blasting over the bar and Darius Vassell missing the crucial kick; the 2006 World Cup quarter-final saw the two teams meet again and the result remain the same as Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher all bottled it; and England were dumped out of the last eight of Euro 2012 as Ashley Young and Ashley Cole both missed.
And finally, from the Guardian..
Mickleover Lightning Blue Sox U10s 1-1 Chellaston Boys U10s, 1998 Derby Community Cup final
Spare a thought for Chellaston Boys Under-10 goalkeeper Ben Hodder, who is presumably the only goalkeeper in football history to save 31 consecutive spot kicks in a sudden-death decider and still end up on the losing team.
Having fought out a 1-1 draw with their Mickleover counterparts in a 1998 Derby Community Cup match, Hodder's side were forced to endure the trauma of losing the longest and arguably most tedious shoot-out in football history, having been edged out 2-1 after an astonishing 66 kicks had been taken.
Watching shot after shot being saved or sent wide, and no doubt at the behest of despairing parents whose will to live was gradually disappearing, referee Peter Shieff eventually moved the spot forward a couple of yards. Still struggling to find a victory after 56 penalties had failed to break the deadlock, Shieff suggested a coin toss to decide the outcome of the pivotal seven-a-side.
But he was quite rightly overruled and a mere 10 penalties later, Mickleover prevailed 2-1, presumably with many of their players having entered puberty, grown stubble and developed an interest in girls since the match had kicked off.
In the wake of the epic, FA statistician David Barber confirmed the youngsters had set a new world record which would stand - and continues to stand - despite their tender years.
RECORDS:
The record for the highest score in a penalty shoot-out was set in the 1988 Argentina Championship, when Argeninos Juniors beat Racing Club 20-19 after 44 penalties.
The current world record for the most penalties scored consecutively in a shoot-out stands at 29, set in a Hampshire Senior Cup second round game between Brockenhurst and Andover Town in 2013, in which the 30th penalty was saved as Brockenhurst won 15-14.
