Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Tuesday, 29 June 2010
HOW GOOD COMMUNAL EUPHORIA TASTES! By CAMERON DUODU
QUOTE: “Uruguay are a good team. But we are good too. We are capable of beating Uruguay. We are ready to live the ultimate dream." UNQUOTE -- Samuel Inkoom
That is the spirit, Sam. The victory over the US has come and gone. Now, our eyes must be on Uruguay.
They are not exactly second-class material. They beat South Korea 2-1,t Mexico 1-0, South Africa 3-0 and drew 0-0 with France.
I sighed after viewing those stats. The only comforting thing to find in them is the victory of Uruguay over South Africa.
Comforting?
Yes, in an ironic sense. That victory will guarantee Ghana a superior vuvuzela-decibel level when we play Uruguay. That is: if anyone can actually distinguish between whom the vuvuzelas are cheering, and whom they are trying to jinx.
It doesn’t really matter. The South Africans will know whom they are supporting. They would know that they are supporting Ghana, even if the Uruguayans had not whupped them 3-0.
Let Ghana beat Uruguay and our name will be written all over South African hearts for ever.
In fact, the process of Ghana becoming an icon in South Africa has already begun. The Washington Post reports that a cartoonist of the Johannesburg Times newspaper, Jerm, has, in tribute to Ghana as the only African country left to try and ensure that Africa stays in the tournament, redrawn Ghana’s flag, replacing the black star in the centre with -- a black map of Africa!
What a brilliant idea -- we are being told through football that indeed, we can be a United States of Africa. It is beautiful: you can see the new flag here on the Internet:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/soccerinsider/
Indeed, were Uruguay to be able to drive Africa out of the 2010 World Cup tournament by beating Ghana, Uruguay’s name would become associated with what the South Africans call muti (malignant juju or African magic) for ever.
So a lot hangs on our match with Uruguay. Can home-grown ‘African electronics’, operating on a combined wavelength radiating from west to south on the African continent, outwit its Latin American counterpart -- or rather -- rival? That is the question! You think there are no 'boundaries' in cyberspace? You wait. Pity Okomfo Anokye wasn’t able to resurrect himself before cyberspace was invented!
But not to worry. We have something which wasn’t given to us by metaphysics in any shape or form -- the communal euphoria that our victory over the United States has transmitted into the soul of every Ghanaian alive. Especially the Black Star players.
The ‘viral’ nature that this euphoria has assumed on the Internet is breath-taking. Yet it is not as if we haven’t beaten the US before -- true, we gave them an identical walloping in the 2006 World Cup. But this year’s match had as much drama in it as if it were a contest between an unknown ‘Asteroids Eleven’ and a mystery opponent extruded by the Icelandic Volcano known as Eyjafjallajokull!
One pre-match report, no doubt calculated to strike fear into every Ghanaian, emphasised that “the Americans have come back twice in the tournament, to draw against England and Slovenia, and scored deep into injury time, against Algeria to win their group, ahead of England.” Whereas Ghana had actually been beaten (1-0 by Germany) and had drawn 1-1 with Australia, with its 1-0 victory over Serbia as Ghana's only notable achievement in the tournament.
And yet come the day and what do we see? The stats are shown to be irrelevant. Ghana’s forwards who, in earlier games, had appeared not to know how to shoot, have suddenly found their feet. First, Kevin-Prince Boateng works his solo magic past several Americans, and instead of passing the ball, releases a shot through the legs of the Americans opposing him. And in it goes -- sroh!
Yieeeeeeeeh! We shout loudly enough to burst our lungs.
But then, the Americans equalise with a penalty (which, as usual, creates controversy amongst us, the arm-chair players.) Anyway, they score. It is one-one.
And the feared words come into use again -- what we call “extra time” and the Americans call “overtime”. Oh no! Not penalties? The awesome word hangs over the proceedings like smog over a modern industrial city.
Play goes on. One can sense that this is the stage at which the men are separated from the boys. This is when men die fighting: ‘aduru mmarima wuo so!’ (as the Akans say).
We go forward and go forward. Nothing happens. Every Ghanaian fears the match will end in a penalty shootout, for the Americans match us in every respect, and with our poor shooting record, we aren‘t exactly expecting anything by way of a remarkable strike from one of our forwards. Boateng, our sole cannon-ball-footed genius, goes off injured anyway.
But then, penalty-specialist Asamoah Gyan gets the ball. He is tackled. He nearly falls over, but manages to right himself and stay half-erect. He goes forward, but has clearly lost his balance. However, instead of succumbing to all these assaults, or even waiting to straighten himself up properly, he shoots from his half-dangling position. Not only does he shoot -- the shot that comes from his left foot is a sputnik shot powered by the thrust of a multi-headed rocket. And in it goes -- wroh!
The vuvuzelas beep out. Ghanaians yell, shout and jump. We’ve done it, it seems. YIEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Johannesburg goes wild. Accra goes mad. Africa -- the whole of Africa -- cheers and cheers and cheers-- from Cape to Cairo; from Bissau to Mombasa.
But there is one small detail we’ve all overlooked -- we have the clock to worry about. Five minutes to full time. Ohhhh! Go faster, won’t you, you damned clock? We count the seconds. We count the minutes. The Americans are playing their hearts out. And we know they are “come-back” specialists.
But for once, it is us that Lady Luck favours. We hold them off till the referee’s whistle blows full time.
And now, an amazing calm descends on our spirits. We have really done it. We realise the enormity of this event. It is not just a victory. It is a victory that was not expected. And that is why it is so much more sweeter -- if one may invoke poetic licence.
Let me not talk any more, lest I over-brag.
Let the opposition do the talking for me. The New York Times thinks it was the youthfulness of our players that did it for us. Asamoah Gyan’s shot, it said, “was the shot of a younger, stronger, faster man. The shot that finished America and liberated the hope all Africans can share.”
The paper further reported that “In a television studio, the former Liberian striker. George Weah, the only African player ever to win FIFA’s ‘World Player of the Year’ honour, was possibly a shade too excited when he suggested that ‘Ghana is a team that can win this World Cup.’ But Weah always did think the improbable. He once scored a goal for A.C. Milan by dribbling the ball past seven men of Verona in one mazy run. Africans of a free spirit may not know their limitations.”
Well now, suppose I had written that? You see why our elders say that “a good thing sells itself?” If you do it and it is good, even the most unwilling observer will give credit where credit is due.
I like this bit and so I shall repeat it: “Africans of a free spirit may not know their limitations!”
An absolutely profound observation. Didn’t our own Dr Kwegyir Aggrey say something about “nothing but the best” being good enough for Africa?
Asamoah Gyan’s winning goal was not only improbable; it was impossible, as far as his physical situation of the time he shot the ball into the American net was concerned. The shot came from his imagination, which took him back to his childhood, when he used to play on hard, gravelly ground, on which he tried all manner of tricks to make him the envy of all his playmates, and the darling of the watching damsels. It was a “gutter-to-gutter” shot -- you can’t shoot a football in that position if you have never played shabo-shabo or taken part in Saturday morning practice in the dust on the outskirts of Maamobi or Mallam or its equivalent somewhere in rural Ghana. It will be discussed and discussed and imitated and -- bettered!
That is what our foreign coach may not always appreciate. Yes, our boys should be tight in defence and technically proficient in ensuring that we do not allow goals to go in.
But after all, football is a game to be enjoyed. And for it to be properly enjoyed, it must produce spectacular, imaginative goals. I am sure that if Gyan’s goal had not liberated George Weah’s mind, Weah would not have remarked that 'Ghana
can win the World Cup.' And if George Weah had not liberated the mind of the New York Times reporter two or so decades ago, he wouldn’t have taken any notice of what George Weah said, but dismissed it as the hyperbolic rhetoric of an unrealistic political wannabe.
But the guy had seen Weah do the seemingly impossible once. Dribble everyone in his path, from his own side of the pitch, straight on and on and on and on and on -- past seven men till he shot straight into the net and scored.
Yes -- it can be done.
So do it Black Stars.
Do win the World Cup for Africa on African soil.
Go there and get rid of Uruguay. To begin with.
And then we shall see.
Remember -- Ghana did beat the soccer wizards, Brazil in the Under-20 World Cup. It is the youth who grow up to achieve the goals of MEN.
YOU can do it!
So go out there and do it.
THE "NEW" GHANA FLAG!
CAMERON DUODU WRITES: In The World Cup 2010, Ghana was left to carry the host continent, Africa, on her back -- all by herself -- as all the African countries, including the host, South Africa, were eliminated from the tournament. In recognition of Ghana;s heroic effort, the South Africa cartoonist, Jerm, redrew Ghana's flag to reflect this new reality, in the Johannesburg Times newspaper.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/article38818.ece
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
GHANA HAS REACHED ITS FOOTBALL MOMENT
By CAMERON DUODU
GHANA beat Serbia 1-0.
Serbia beat Germany 1-0.
Germany beat Australia 4-0.
So, shouldn’t Ghana have beaten Australia? Yet Ghana could only draw 1-1 with them!
And even more troubling, Germany, which had been beaten by Serbia, which, remember, Ghana had beaten, may drive us out of the World Cup on Wednesday -- if they beat us by a good enough margin! I am not going into the mathematics of that, thank you very much.
All that I can say is that we should have beaten Australia well and good and made ourselves absolutely secure.
It is true that you can never play down the chances of any team in the World Cup. I mean -- the World Champions, Italy were shocked to go 1-0 down to
New Zealand -- yes them of the ferocious Rugby “Haka” performance fame -- in the seventh minute of their contest on Sunday 20th June 2010!
Man, I didn’t even know that New Zealanders played football; that is to say, non-Rugby football.
And now they’ve gone into the football quiz books for ever: “Which unfancied football team scored a seventh-minute goal against the World Champions in a World Cup tournament?” Answer: “New Zealand; World Cup South Africa, 20th June 2010, against World Champions Italy.”
No-one will ever ask for the eventual result of that particular match (1-1) in a quiz. It is the shock of the first goal that lingers in the memory.
By the way, I think the most hilarious headline to have come out of the World Cup, so far, was the one from the New York Post, a “newspaper” which, allegedly reporting on the day the USA drew 1-1 with England (13th June 2010) put on its front page in huge letters, white on black, the headline, “USA WINS 1-1”. You can see the front page for yourself at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/gallery/2010/jun/14/world-cup-2020-newspaper
That should impress you about World cup reporting -- unless you speak French -- in which case you will find a collector’s item in the choice words attributed to the French player, Nicolas Anelka, addressed to his coach, Raymond Domenech and splashed in huge letters across the front page of the French sports newspaper, L’Equipe.
Where in the world -- except in the super-charged atmosphere of the World Cup -- would a beautiful player like Anelka summon the anger to let go a tirade in which he told his own coach to go and “sleep with himself“, adding that the coach was the “offspring of a female dog?
The French team think that someone leaked the outburst to the newspaper, and they have been looking for the “traitor”. That’s one other thing: in the World Cup, you have teams, but hardly any team spirit at all.
Yet, in the mean time, in solidarity with the expelled Anelka, all the players refused to alight from their team bus when they got to their training ground on Sunday. Which means they think they were sold to a newspaper by one of their own officials. Usually it is the other way round: players blabber away and officials punish them when they are caught.
Really, what is the world coming to, when officials charged with keeping a tight lid on camp scandals, are those acting as moles for sensation-seeking journalists? In the current frame of mind in the French camp, it would have been a great favour to Ghana if we had been drawn to play them, instead of the Germans, who have, so far, had no scandal to endure. Unless you count the fact that they were beaten by Serbia. (Indeed, Germany and Serbia go a long way together -- read the history of the origins of the First World War here:
http://www.firstworldwar.com/origins/causes.htm
if you are really interested.)
Ha -- in fact, as we prepare to meet the mighty Germans, things do not look at all good in our own camp. Once again, Sulley Muntari and coach Milovan Rajevac are daggers drawn. What a bore!
According to the sports website, Kickoffghana.com, “Sulley Muntari's World Cup has gone from bad to worse, after he was ordered out of the Ghana camp by Black Stars coach Milovan Rajevac.
“The Inter Milan player has cast a gloomy figure throughout Ghana's stay in South Africa, after he lost his regular place in the side, but things came to a head after the Ghana-Australia 1-1 draw on Saturday when Muntari felt he should have had a bigger role.
“KickOffGhana.com understands Rajevac felt insulted by the player's protests and on Sunday night, asked team manager Opoku Afriyie to facilitate his departure from the camp. Ghana Football Association officials, including its president and the Ghana captain, Stephen Appiah, tried to intervene but Rajevac made it clear he cannot work with the player. [The GFA later issued a statement confirming that the altercation had indeed taken place.]
“Muntari stayed over at the Sun City hotel base of the Ghana team on Sunday night, but there was no indication yet if he would have any further part to play in Ghana's campaign.
“Rajevac and Muntari have had a frosty relationship and it all now seems to be coming to a head at this tournament. The mid-fielder was omitted from Ghana's 2010 [African] Nations Cup squad after refusing to meet Rajevac twice during [Rajevac’s] visits to Milan. He was reinstated after apologising to the coach before scoring on his return against Bosnia in a friendly.
“But his problems began again when he asked to be given a separate room during Ghana's friendly against Holland, contrary to the practice in the team; [and then attempted] to seek medical attention [later] without consulting the Ghana medical team, when they arrived in London for a friendly ahead of the World Cup.”
Who leaked to the website, all this inside information about Sulley Muntari? Is it not a cardinal principle that at tournaments, no member of the team -- including officials -- should speak to the media, without being cleared to speak, and also, without being told exactly what to say, by the top officials? If it was Rajevac who spoke to the website, was the Ghana FA’s media spokesman aware that he was talking to the media behind his back?
It is the biggest sign that the coach -- if it was he who talked to the media -- does not know how to keep a team’s morale high when it is taking part in a tournament. If the Ghana FA officials condoned what he did, then they too are gravely at fault. Managing stars is not easy -- they probably wouldn’t be stars if they were docile sheep with no desire to distinguish themselves beyond the supine nature that can be expected of many ordinary individuals.
That sad rumpus aside, many Ghanaians are still calling for Milo’s head, principally because of the way he allowed his emotions to betray him when Ghana beat Serbia 1-0. Publicly brushing away two of his own “comrades” who merely wanted to share with him, their joy at winning, was an insult to the nation that, it is reported, is paying him $40,000 a month and a considerable sum also to his interpreter too. I am not myself worried about the pay, or the origins of the man. After all, there are many great coaches in Britain (for example) and yet they don’t mind hiring foreign coaches and paying them millions.
What is unacceptable is the coach’s apparent inability to empathise with our national enthusiasms. If he is not happy when his boys -- and his co-handlers of the boys -- are happy, then how can he expect to inspire all of them to achieve greater feats? Again, if he dismisses all their own ideas of playing football and imposes only his own, how does he expect to be able to mould them to his way of doing things, in the mere two months or so that the squad is in his hands? A marriage of ideas is surely the best way to go about matters?
When I watch our boys play, and find that their attacking machine is so weak, I simply lose hope. The other day, I was reduced to asking, “Where is Agogo?” until someone pointed out to me that the great, untiring attacker was on the injury list. And the one player who, on a good day, could have brought some vim into our attack, Sulley Muntari, is the one who has turned out to be a disgruntled nut who is too hot to handle, for Rajevac.
It is unfortunate beyond words, that we should be facing a clash of personalities of this sort, in a tournament where, so far, we are the only African side that has secured a victory for itself. Just that little bit more, and we could be in the last sixteen. Not beating an Australian side reduced to ten men was quite simply unforgivable. Rajevac brought on Muntari much too late for him to be able to do anything worthy of note.
Indeed, being an apparently spiteful person, it cannot be ruled out that our coach probably brought him on at that late stage, not in expectation that he would be able to change anything, but to “expose” his weaknesses -- bad temper and insubordination -- for all those who had been clamouring that Sulley should be brought in, to see for themselves. There is no-one in the world who won’t fail if circumstances are created for him to fail. And Sulley Muntari wouldn’t be Sulley Muntari if he just accepted the situation without making his feelings known to all and sundry.
Everything now hangs on how we perform against the Germans. And if the murmurs in the camp prove right, we shall be fighting them -- multi-champions of the world, no less
-- with our hands tied behind our backs.
Nevertheless, never say die….! Ghana Oseeee Yeeeeeei! No matter how hot the gun becomes, it still must be fired from the chest of a MAN!
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