Ghana: The Last African Team in the First African World Cup

June 25th, 2010 | by: Daryl |

ghana

One of the most appealing elements of South Africa hosting World Cup 2010 was the perceived advantage it offered to African teams. Cameroon reached the World Cup quarterfinals in 1990 and Senegal the same in 2002, and there was plenty of pre-tournament optimism that one of the six African teams could take advantage of the World Cup being on African soil and go one step further in 2010: The first African team in the World Cup semi-finals. Maybe even the first World Cup winner. Things haven’t quite gone as planned.

Five of the six African teams (South Africa, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Algeria) went out in the group stage. Cameroon with three straight defeats and Algeria without scoring a goal. Only Ghana progressed, finishing second in a competitive Group D. So whatever hopes the world has of seeing an African team break the semi-final barrier now rest on the shoulders of the Black Stars.

It’s maybe a little unfair to place all that expectation on the backs of Ghana. But right now World Cup 2010 is going to be remembered as a logistics/infrastructure success for South Africa, rather than an on-field/ footballing success for African teams. Ghana are the only team in a position to change that, starting tomorrow at 8:30pm local time when they face the USA in the Round of 16.

- Read more about the Black Stars at Ghana World Cup Blog.

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Bense235

Objection about the infrastructure/traffic point. My pal's there and he told me you can't go anywhere because the traffic is jammed 2 hours ahead and 3 hours after each game except for in Johannesburg.
WorldCupBlog

This is definitely not the case in Durban. Traffic is heavy around the game times, but no more than I'd expect for a big event anywhere. Can't comment on the other cities. Anyone else?
http://www.worldcupblog.org Daryl

OK, maybe it hasn't been perfect. But compared to some of the doom-mongering in the couple of years before the tournament, it's been a relative success.
http://malawi.worldcupblog.org sscouser

Algeria didn't score but only conceded 2 goals. Not bad considering that England only scored 2 and conceded 1.

“Sometime even for those of us who have followed the Stars (Ghana – Black Stars) from close range, they do not fail to confound. Either they create little and yet win or these days they create so many opportunities but can only score from the penalty spot.”

I have a feeling that tomorrow's gonna be a good day.
Bense235

Given most of the stadiums are “medium” sized for European standards, it's fewer chaos than expected, yeah. It ain't Armageddon, but it's in Africa. They're doing their best but they simply don't have the same infrastructure like in Europe, Asia or North America.

Some fans report you've rather got to go 1 hour early or half an hour late. Otherwise you'd be stuck in traffic and won't get there in time, too. The attendance of the matches at kick-off is almost always 10-20% less than after half-time. I'm not “blaming” anybody on this, or if so, maybe FIFA. As aforementioned, they're giving their best.
brentonwalters

It's odd that we would expect more from the African teams simply because the tournament is being held on the same continent they are from. Does Algeria have anything whatsoever in common with South Africa? None of the African teams are anywhere near South Africa, so what advantage would they have? We should treat them as we would any other country and expect progression based on their play, their group and their history.

That and the odd stat that South Africa are the only hosts not to progress. Have you looked at who has hosted the tournament in the past? Solid footballing nations all of them, with the exception of South Korea, Japan and Switzerland, but they all had a much better foundation than South Africa, who haven't had a good team for years. They overperformed here, just not quite enough to progress.