Africa prepares to back Ghana in Historic World Cup Quest

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Africa is gearing up to throw its support behind Ghana as the Black Stars aim to become the first team from the continent to reach the semi-final of a World Cup.

Ghana are the only African team left in the tournament, which is taking place on the continent for the first time, after all the other sides exited at the first round.

The Black Stars have already done the continent proud by beating the United States 2-1 after extra-time in the Round of 16 to draw level with Cameroon and Senegal as Africa's best performers at a World Cup.

Now they are looking to go one better and defeat Uruguay in Johannesburg's Soccer City on Friday to secure a tough semi-final tie against Brazil or the Netherlands.

Former South African president Thabo Mbeki this week issued a call to the continent to get behind the West African nation.

"I am certain that these millions will now rally behind the Black Stars to guarantee that we cap the fact of the very successful hosting of the World Cup by Africa by ensuring ... the Black Stars, now of Africa, win the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup," he said.

Football fans across Africa look set to answer Mbeki's call by cheering Ghana on at big screens and in bars from South Africa to Nigeria.

Nigeria performed poorly and dropped out at the group stages, but fans in Africa's most-populous nation have overcome their pain to back the Black Stars.

"We have all switched our allegiance to Ghana after the Super Eagles' disappointing performance," said Ahmed Maiwada, an Abuja-based lawyer.

Maiwada plans to take in the match at a public-viewing area for the atmosphere, which he believes will be electric when Ghana defeat the South Americans.

Kenya failed to qualify at all, but that has not stopped fans there backing African sides.

People from all layers of society have been tuning in - even in Kibera, the capital Nairobi's notoriously grim slum, the poorest of the poor have been able to watch some games on a big screen.

Entrepreneur Akinyi Adongo and her friends will watch the showdown in the popular Gypsy's bar in the party district of Westlands.

"We are all in awe of the Ghana team; after all, they are 'the hope of Africa'," she said. "Ghana can beat Uruguay, but they need to get their A-game on."

In Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, all the matches are being shown on a big screen in the central Meskel Square.

Huge crowds have been gathering and disrupting traffic when African teams play, and it looks set to be the same on Friday, as fans pray Ghana will show Africa deserves more places at football's top table.

"It is very important (that Ghana are doing well)," Ethiopian football fanatic Aaron Maasho said. "It is testimony that African football has indeed developed and calls for more berths in World Cups are justified."

Even in conflict-ridden Somalia, people are defying a ban on watching games issued by an insurgent group that flogs or executes those who transgress its strict interpretation of Islamic law.

They are huddled in their homes in the ravaged capital Mogadishu, with the sound turned down on their televisions to avoid being detected by roaming Islamists.

But support for Ghana is not uniform.

In host nation South Africa, some fans have switched their allegiance from Bafana Bafana, who went out despite a historic 2-1 victory over France, to Brazil.

In the Pick n Pay supermarket on Cape Town's V&A Waterfront, a cashier got into an argument with her colleague, who like many other South Africans, has a soft spot for the Selecao.

Her efforts to persuade her work-mate to support Ghana failed, but tens of millions of other voices will be raised in a cheer that will shake the continent should the Black Stars triumph.

[Karl]

Africa Rallies Around Ghana

Africa Rallies Around Ghana

Gabriel Bouys/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Ghana’s defender John Paintsil, right, and Ghana’s midfielder Andre Ayew, celebrate after Ghana’s loss to Germany. They still advanced to the second round as Australia beat Serbia.

By WILLIAM C. RHODEN

Published: June 25, 2010


Enlarge This Image

Christian Charisius/Reuters

African fans were cheering for Ghana against the U.S. Ghana was the only African team to advance out of the first round.




On the eve of Africa’s last hope for glory, three former soccer stars with roots in Africa met for more than an hour Friday at Soccer City and engaged one another in an intriguing dialogue about what went wrong for Africa at the World Cup and how to make it right.


The three men — Kalusha Bwalya, Patrick Vieira and Jomo Sono — agreed, disagreed and discussed how customs, differences and rivalries make unity — in soccer and beyond — Africa’s great challenge of the century.


Bwalya is the president of the Football Association of Zambia and the FIFA Technical Study Group; Vieira, born in Senegal, played for the French national team; Sono is a South African soccer icon and a former coach of its national team, Bafana Bafana.



On Saturday, Ghana earned a historic result, defeating the United States, 2-1, and advancing to the quarterfinals in their second World Cup appearance.



Despite Ghana’s breakthrough, persistent issues are cited as barriers to consistent African success. ¶Holding the African Cup of Nations in the same year as the World Cup.
¶Hastily assembling teams, and jettisoning and adding coaches at the last moment.
¶The annual exodus of seasoned African players to Europe.
¶The steering of promising young talent out of Africa by unscrupulous agents.



“From an administrator’s view, everyone has something to say,” Bwalya said. “The bottom line is that this was a wake-up call for Africa.”
Now that everyone is awake, what next?



Ghana, the only team from Africa to make it out of the group phase, was matched against the United States on Saturday. If this were just a game, there is no question where my rooting interest would lie: Go U.S.A.



But this was more than a match, just as the World Cup in Africa is more than an event. This was in part a referendum on whether a sub-Saharan nation with black leadership could pull off a mega-event.
My heart was with the United States, but I was pulling for Africa.
Not Ghana. Africa.



As much as this match meant to United States soccer, Ghana’s success could be a catalyst for a long-term psychological boost. This isn’t about patriotism, but about continuing the push to keep this important giant on the right track.



Sports can heal. Let Africa be Exhibit A.
On Friday, the conversation about what went wrong invariably turned to the hiring and development of African coaches.



Bwalya made the case for bringing in coaches from the outside.
“As administrators, we want to bring the right kind of persons to be in charge of the team,” he said.



He also spoke about new steps to make sure coaches are qualified and trained.



“There’s no doubt that the number of players who have been produced in Africa are very talented, but they don’t go through the education process,” Bwalya said. “The education process of the coach today is complicated. The coaches have to be qualified. Unfortunately for our countries in Africa, sometimes, it’s very difficult to get former players or other administrators into coaching. As long as there is that variance, I’m sure Africa will still be able to bring good coaches from wherever in the world.”



We have heard this line before.



There has been the 40-year struggle — in American sports — to persuade the white majority to hire African-Americans as coaches and executives. That struggle continues.



It is mind-boggling that in Africa, where soccer is deeply rooted in the minds, spirits and souls of the people, that the continent’s soccer powers have not been willing or able to groom, identify and train black African head coaches.



There is a phrase in the United States that describes a mentality in which African-Americans fail to support other African-Americans: white man’s ice is colder. The mentality is in play at a World Cup in Africa in which none of the black African teams are coached by a black African.



Nomo pointed out the number of successful and knowledgeable former players in Africa who simply need a chance.



“I hope the new generation will have more African coaches motivated and qualified,” he said. “They need somebody to give them the chance, because I’m sure they can do a good job.”



He pointed out that the problem of hiring European coaches goes beyond teaching the game, but in understanding the multilayered labyrinth that is Africa.



“If you look at Africa as a whole, you look at Nigeria, there’s different tribes there; you look at South Africa, there’s different nationalities on the national team,” Nomo said.



“You’re dealing with coloreds and blacks and you have to understand the way they think; in England, you don’t have a problem,” he added, referring to the national team. “They’re all British. In Argentina, they’re all Argentinean, but when you come to Africa, you have a lot of nationalities. It’s vital that a coach spend six months of his contract in the country where he’s going to work.”



Soccer is a great metaphor applied at this World Cup. How do you put your arms around this country, with its majestic mountains, powerful waterfalls, vast open ranges and many tribes and dialects?



The Friday discussion, presumably the first of many, illuminated the challenge of this ultimate soccer metaphor: how to make this sprawling continent a team.

[myYout]

right, haffi live an die wid di Blacks stars an wi still have unfinished business. Watch wi ball ah south american team. Dem mek mi feel suh proud. Ghana all di way