Cristiano Ronaldo wasted a succession of glorious chances as Portugal bowed out of the World Cup on Thursday despite beating Ghana 2-1 in Brasilia.

Portugal knew only a win combined with a defeat for Germany or the United States in the other Group G fixture, plus a significant swing in goal difference, would take them through to the last 16.

Thomas Mueller scored his fourth goal of the World Cup on Friday as Germany defeated the United States 1-0 to win Group G ahead of the Americans, who also advanced to the knockout stage of the World Cup despite losing.

With two wins and a draw, Germany topped the group with seven points, while the U.S. progressed with four. Portugal beat Ghana 2-1 but both were eliminated. Portugal also finished with four points but the U.S. had a better goal difference.

Uruguay star Luis Suarez was suspended for nine matches for biting an opponent on Thursday as World Cup chiefs struck back with the heaviest sanction against a player in the tournament's history.

Suarez, who sank his teeth into Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini during his team's Group D win on Tuesday, was also banned from all football activity for four months and fined 100,000 Swiss francs ($112,000).

Italy's midfield maestro Andrea Pirlo said he may go back on his decision to retire from international football.

The 35-year-old Pirlo, who plays for Juventus, added before the World Cup that he would quit international football after the tournament in Brazil.

France right-back Bacary Sagna dismissed suggestions that his recent move from Arsenal to Manchester City was motivated by greed, insisting it was only to do with personal ambition.

Sagna, 31, left Arsenal on a free transfer at the end of last season after seven years at the club and promptly signed for the Premier League champions on a three-year contract.

Ghana stars Sulley Muntari and Kevin-Prince Boateng have both been indefinitely suspended from their national team for disciplinary reasons, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) said Thursday.

AC Milan midfielder Muntari, 29, is accused of attacking a member of the management team Moses Armah, while Schalke 04 midfielder Boateng, 27, is said to have verbally abused national team coach Kwesi Appiah, the GFA said on its website.

Rafael Nadal gets the opportunity to avenge one of his career's most humiliating defeats when he faces Lukas Rosol for a place in the Wimbledon third round Thursday.

Two years after the unheralded Czech sent Nadal crashing to a shock second round loss, the pair meet again at the same stage of the tournament with the two-time champion Spaniard aware that Rosol poses a serious threat to his hopes of progressing towards a 15th major.

Russia captain Vasily Berezutskiy says there's no doubt — his team will score on Thursday in its must-win match against Algeria at the World Cup.

That's brave talk from a man whose team has only scored one goal so far in Group H, in an opening draw with South Korea.

As the world was judging Uruguay's Luis Suarez for biting a player in the World Cup, his teammates, coaches and fans in his football-crazy country defended the star, blaming the foreign media, his Italian opponents and uneven treatment.

World Cup organizers scrambled Wednesday to quickly decide on a punishment before Uruguay plays Colombia Saturday in the round of 16.

An injury to captain Vincent Kompany saved coach Marc Wilmots one decision ahead of Belgium's last group match, but may cause him more concern further into the World Cup.

Kompany led Belgium to victories over Algeria and Russia to qualify for the second round with a game to spare, the only blemish being a nagging groin strain that kept the Manchester City captain sidelined for a few days of training.