Daniel Amartey says due to the history between the Ghana and Uruguay at the World Cup, it was it was important for the Black Stars to deny the South Americans a place in the round of 16.
Ghana skipper Andre Ayew missed a penalty in the 21st minute as his kick was saved by Uruguay goalkeeper Sergio Rochet following a foul on Mohammed Kudus.
Uruguay went on to win the game 2-0 thanks to goals from Giorgio de Arrascaeta in the 26th and 32nd minutes of the game but it was not enough as teams went out of the tournament.
“I just told my teammates: ‘We need a goal but they also need a goal. So we have to defend for ourselves so that if we can't go, they don't go," Amartey said after the game.
"For me, yes. It was tough because you can see their centre back, everybody comes (forward).
"Uruguay needed one goal to go through but you can see we defended four against five or three against two but we managed to defend."