The heartbreak lingered, yet Ghana's football team exited from the World Cup in heroic fashion after coming within an inches-too-high kick of advancing further than any African team in history.

A day after their devastating shootout loss to Uruguay in the quarterfinals, the Ghanaian players received a South African version of red-carpet treatment - visits Saturday to the homes of former president Nelson Mandela and his ex-wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, both icons of the anti-apartheid movement.

"It was a big privilege for me and the players," said Ghana goalkeeper Richard Kingson, after meeting Madikizela-Mandela in Soweto. "She advised our life and our future, and how to be a good guy and how to control things."

Sowetans greeted the players with applause and cheers as they got off their police-escorted bus, which bore a sign reading, "The Hope of Africa."

After the Soweto visit, the team drove back to visit Mandela at his mansion in Johannesburg's affluent Houghton neighbourhood. The meeting was closed to journalists, but the Nelson Mandela Foundation afterward commended the Ghana team.

"They represented the continent well," it said. "They can return home with their heads held high."

The governing African National Congress chimed in, expressing discouragement that once again no African team had reached the semifinals yet lauding Ghana's performance.

"Well-done Ghana for doing the continent, mother Africa and all of us as Africans proud," said ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu. "We salute you."

Ghana's loss on Friday night could scarcely have been more agonising. With only seconds left in overtime, and the score 1-1, a Ghanaian header about to cross the goal line was cleared away by the arm of Uruguay forward Luis Suarez. The ensuing penalty kick by Asamoah Gyan, which would have won the match, hit the crossbar, and Uruguay went on to win the shootout 4-2.

"I'm OK. I'm all right," Gyan told reporters outside Madikizela-Mandela's house - looking like he's shaken off some of the despair that overcame him after the missed penalty.

Defender Rahim Ayew said: "We just have to put it behind us and have fun. It's part of football."

Asked how he felt, midfielder Sulley Muntari replied, "Not really good."

"But Mr. Mandela and his wife - they give us some happiness," he added. "We will come back."

Coach Milovan Rajevac was philosophical.

"We are very satisfied with everything we did," he said. "This is the biggest success in the history of Ghana, but of course we are sad after this match."

In this first World Cup to be held in Africa, Ghana had carried the hopes of the entire continent into the quarterfinals. The other five African teams didn't survive the first round, winning only a total of two matches out of 15.

In Ghana, the two state-owned dailies praised the efforts of the team.

"They have also sent a strong signal to the rest of the world how ready Africa is to take on the game's traditional superpowers," said the Daily Graphic.

"The boys played their hearts out," said the Ghanaian Times.

However, Peter Dogbe, a taxi driver in Accra, Ghana, was among many fans who felt the referee should have awarded a goal after Suarez's handball.

"FIFA should look at its rules again," he said. "It was total cheating."

At a FIFA-backed education forum in Johannesburg, former Ghana player Anthony Baffoe, now an adviser to FIFA, said watching the Ghana-Uruguay match was excruciating.

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