Ghana goalkeeper Richard Kingson revealed he and his teammates had been trying to support their striker Asamoah Gyan after his penalty miss prevented the Black Stars from reaching the World Cup semi finals.
Gyan had the chance to win the match against Uruguay on Friday, which was poised at 1-1, with the final kick of extra-time after Uruguay forward Luis Suarez had handled Dominic Adiyiah's header on the line, preventing a certain goal.
But Rennes forward Gyan crashed his penalty against the crossbar and although he netted in the ensuing shoot-out, Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera saved two kicks and the South Americans won 4-2 to move on to face Holland in the last four.
"We were consoling him (in the dressing rooms), it's a game so we need to forget about it," Kingson said before complaining about Suarez's actions.
"You can see from the beginning that it's unfair on our side, the referee should have allowed the goal but he gave a penalty.
"It's very unfortunate but it's also part of the game, you have to accept it and correct the mistake next time.
"Many things happen in football but you have to understand that little decisions can change every situation and that happened today.
"If the referee gives a goal we qualify for the semis, but he didn't, he gave a penalty.
"I'm a little bit down but I'm also happy for myself. There's nothing we can do now, we have to take it out of our minds and move forward.
"I'm very proud of the team, it's a young team and even in our country no one expected us to get to this stage."
Gyan would have joined Cameroon legend Roger Milla as Africa's record goalscorer in World Cup finals had he netted the winner but it wasn't to be.