Ghana Controls Its Own Destiny
NUREMBURG, Germany — If you think playing for national pride adds drama to the World Cup, check out the team playing for an entire continent.
In this World Cup, Ghana surprisingly has stepped into the role of African standard-bearer. The Ghanaians pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament in beating the Czech Republic, and now a victory over the United States today in the final game of group play would send them into the next round.
"It means a lot," Ghana captain Stephen Appiah said. "People didn't expect us to play like the way we played. I think all Ghanaians are happy, not only for Ghana but for the African continent as well."
Ghana has certainly caught the attention of the U.S. team, whose clearest opportunity to advance to the second round is to beat Ghana and hope Italy beats the Czech Republic.
The story of African soccer is much like the African nations themselves: abundant resources squandered by organizational dysfunction. The best African World Cup result came when Cameroon's Indomitable Lions roared to the semifinals in 1990. Ghana, which became the continent's first country to win independence from European colonizers five decades ago, is the home of Abedi Pele, recipient of the first African Footballer of the Year award in 1992. It's also the birthplace of Freddy Adu, the prodigy who joined Major League Soccer at 14.
Yet Ghana never competed for the World Cup until this year. The talented group led by Michael Essien (who plays for Chelsea in the English Premier League) is getting it done for Coach Ratomir Dujkovic.
When the Serbian Dujkovic took over the team's reins a year ago, he used everything from game DVDs to man-on-the-street talks to learn the essence of Ghanaian soccer and determine what needed to change. His solution: Players arriving late to team functions could expect to find the exhaust from a departing bus.
"There are no stars on the [field]," Dujkovic said. "Everybody's the same."
But only two of them have scored goals in this World Cup -- Sulley Muntari and Asamoah Gyan -- and both are suspended for today's game against the U.S. after receiving two yellow cards. That hasn't stopped Ghana from talking tough.
They openly discuss a trip to the semifinals. They welcome a potential matchup with superpower Brazil. Dujkovic earlier in the week said the U.S. "will suffer." And Appiah said at Wednesday's news conference: "We're going to miss those guys, but our roster, we are 23-strong. All the guys, they are ready to die for the nation."
