Soccer...I mean Football

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Come on Black Stars, Ghana

One big part of Ghanaian culture is football (or soccer for most Canadian folk). Especially these days since Ghana has recently made World Cup history. Last thurday, Ghana became the first African team to make it to the final sixteen teams in the FIFA World Cup. This makes already fanatical fans around here absolutely insane. The whole country is celebrating and to some extent the rest of Africa. Ghanaians have become extremely proud that they are representing the whole of Africa in the last part of this tournament.

All this means that one has to be very careful about who they cheer for around here. This is yet another reason why it's great to be Canadian. Since Canada absolutely sucks as a soccer nation, we are not in the world cup and therefore I can legitimately cheer for Ghana and never run into resentment because of where a come from. However, in the last game Ghana defeated the United States. Being white, many Ghanaians, before the game, mistook me for an American and consequently felt compelled to blow horns at me and tell me they were going to be 'us'. During and after the game I donned a protective Black Stars jersey. I was also actually cheering for Ghana, but for them to believe me I needed the jersey.

After the game, there was a city-wide party. I took some pictures around the house I'm staying in. The street was pretty crazy, but keep in mind that I live in an area far from the urban center and therefore the pictures only show a moderate amount of craziness. However, people here were partying so hard that many ended up in the hospital due to traffic accidents. People were still partying saturday night.

Unfortunately for Ghana, the first team they play in the playoffs in Brazil, which is a very tough team. Although, Ghana beat the Czech Republic, who are rated second along with Brazil. And, I must say that Ghanaians are more than optimistic even though much of their foreign counterparts are not. What is really cool is that a friend of mine, Meha, is in Brazil right now, so we will be cheering for two rival teams from across the globe. That's pretty awesome. Anyway, enjoy the pictures.

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Photos

Semi trucks
Pre-game semi parade

Post game
One of the many groups of guys running through the street, only these guys weren't carrying pots to drum on.

Comments

[Martin]

Go France!
Jon, If you see a France Jersey out there on your travels, could you pick one up for me? I will pay you for it when you get home. I can't seem to find one anywhere in Saskatoon. Apparently Canada and the USA never ordered any France, because they don't like the French? I love your blogs! Keep them coming!