1 Ghana flag: 12 Ghana Cedis
Watching Ghana knock the USA out of the World Cup and advance to the quarterfinals: PRICELESS
I can’t even begin to describe what happened last night. It’s a new feeling for me, being so incredibly proud of one’s country simply because of a sport.
It was bittersweet, though. I’m a proud American (I stood up for the national anthem) and felt bad that the U.S. lost, especially after they exceeded the world’s expectations by reaching the Round of 16.
But!
I’m also a proud Ghanaian and my elation over Ghana’s victory far outweighed my sadness for the USA’s loss. And because I felt that a win for Ghana would mean so much more for this small nation than the USA, which is dominant in practically everything, I was rooting for the Black Stars.
The atmosphere in the hours leading up to the match was tense. I watched in confusion as my cousin lay moping around, hardly talking and refusing to eat. I learned that it was a sort of “pre-match meditation.” I admit, I was nervous for Ghana and doubtful of their performance in the World Cup so far, especially since the 2 goals they’d scored so far were from penalties. Still, I was ready to cheer on Ghana with my flag and vuvuzela at hand. It wasn’t long—5 minutes to be exact—before the room we all gathered to watch the match in exploded with the sound of cheers and vuvuzelas.
I was pretty relaxed and only hoped that Ghana could hold on to their lead, up until the U.S. scored in the 2nd half. I’ve never been so stressed watching a soccer match before. Those 30 minutes of extra time seemed so long. But I cheered and romped with everyone else when we scored our second goal, which ultimately won us the match and allowed us to knock the U.S. out of the tournament for the second time in a row.
Almost immediately after, about ten of us crammed into the Land Cruiser--flags, vuvuzelas, and all--and my uncle drove us into town to celebrate.
Now,“celebrate” is a vague term. I expected to go to a bar or something for some victory drinks and call it a night. Little naïve me from the suburbs was not prepared for all that took place on the city streets of Tamale under the full moon last night.
“Riot” is the only word that comes close enough to what I witnessed. Only it wasn’t violent.
Crowds of people were dancing to the beats of loud drums I couldn’t see, motorbikes were weaving in and out of traffic doing wheelies, and the red, yellow, green, and black colors of the Ghanaian flag seemed to be everywhere. I’m still trying to get used to the wild driving here already, what with the scarcity of traffic lights and overtaking being the norm, but to be honest, I was a LITTLE scared that we would get into an accident. I asked my uncle if these people were drunk. He replied, “Drunk with joy!” If this is what people are like after watching their country win a match, I’d like to see them after a couple of drinks…
Regardless of whether or not Ghana advances any further (though I hope they do!) nothing could replace Saturday night. I’m proud of Ghana.
Unfortunately my camera battery died (it couldn't handle all the excitement) before we reached the really wild part of town, but this is what I managed to capture.
No comments:
Post a Comment