Not so long ago the mere suggestion that an African team might win a World Cup would have been dismissed out of hand – all of a sudden, the idea no longer seems far-fetched. Could this be Africa’s time? Unperturbed by his 1977 prediction that an African side would triumph by the end of the 20th century, Brazil legend Pele genuinely believes it can occur next year.
BBC: Close your eyes and try to imagine the scenes of jubilation across Africa if a team from the continent were to win the 2010 World Cup.
A celebration like no other, one billion people reveling in one of the greatest sporting and cultural achievements.
For the first time in its 80-year history, football’s blue riband competition is coming to the world’s poorest and most underdeveloped land.
How better to mark the occasion than with a first African champion?
“Winning the World Cup would be one of the proudest moments in the history of that country and our continent as a whole,” former South Africa striker Shaun Bartlett told BBC Sport.
“Every African nation has its internal problems but football can do wonders for people and nations, which is a huge incentive.”
Nobody is saying it is going to happen but the groundswell of opinion suggests South Africa 2010 is the best opportunity yet. [ READ MORE ]
The Genius of Pele
The 2010 Draw:
Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France
Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, Korea Republic, Greece
Group C: England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia
Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana
Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon
Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia
Group G: Brazil, Korea DPR, Côte d’Ivoire, Portugal
Ghana triumphant at U20 World Cup
By Matthew Kenyon BBC Sport in the Cairo International Stadium
Ten-man Ghana triumphed at the Under-20 World Cup with a dramatic penalty shoot-out victory over Brazil.
Ghana, who had Daniel Addo sent off, produced a fabulous defensive display to deny the South Americans.
The final finished 0-0 after extra-time and Brazil were made to pay when Alex Teixeira’s weak effort was saved in sudden death.
Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu scored the winner as Ghana became the first African team to win the tournament.
Both sides had missed two penalties out of the first five to add to the tension in the stadium by sending the game to sudden death.
Ghana were fired up after suffering a huge setback eight minutes before half-time.
Caught up the field as Brazil sprinted clear, Addo made a desperate tackle on the halfway line.
It was clearly a foul, but Addo was not the last defender and the challenge did not deserve a straight red card.
But he was sent-off and Agyemang-Badu dropped back into defence to replace him, depriving Ghana of a vital source of attacking possession.
Nevertheless, the Black Satellites went on to have their best and most incisive period of possession, but were unable to break the deadlock by half-time.
The game opened up in the second half, with Brazil taking advantage of their numerical superiority to create a series of chances for Teixeira and Alan Kardec, who was especially wasteful.
Brazil became more frustrated by their failure to score and started raining shots in from distance with no effect.
And although Ghana also fashioned opportunities, especially through Dominic Adiyiah and Dede Ayew, the 90 minutes finished goalless.
Ghana pressed early in extra-time but Brazil were denied a fabulous opportunity to take the lead by a point-blank save by Daniel Agyei.
Teixeira’s break down the left should have resulted in a goal but Kardec fluffed again and the follow up shot was well blocked by Agyei.
Ghana had a succession of corners at the end of the first extra period with Brazil’s defence looking shaky, but they could not secure the breakthrough and the game remained goalless and very tense.
Both sets of players were now very tired and more balls were going astray than were finding the right man.
Ghana had certainly not settled on penalties, with Agyemang-Badu creating one good chance right at the end.
But after 120 minutes the two most prolific goalscoring sides in this tournament could not be separated and spot-kicks decided the outcome.
A magnificent competition for the Black Satellites was capped by a deserving victory.
[ By: Charles Onyango-Obbo ] I think we are in danger of getting carried away by Obama and forgetting to do one of the things that has enabled Africans survive all sorts of hardships — have a good laugh.
Over the last two weeks, we read serious stuff from clever men and women discussing what US President Barack Obama’s visit to Africa (Ghana, that is) means.
Would he make some earth-shaking announcement that would open a whole new chapter in US-Africa relations?
What was the significance of his decision not to visit his fatherland, Kenya?
Then, while he is in Ghana and after, the commentators and pundits continued to dissect. Oh, they said, Obama went to great length to appeal to the African youth and try and inspire them to seize the future and save our long-suffering continent from corrupt and thieving leaders.
I think we are in danger of getting carried away by Obama and forgetting to do one of the things that has enabled Africans survive all sorts of hardships — have a good laugh.
I asked myself what my maternal great grandfather, from the comfort of his grave, was thinking of Obama.
He was a warrior and a dedicated cattle keeper, who took great pride in his herd. Even by the standards of his times, the early 20th Century, my great grandfather was considered to have quite unusual views.
For example, he took intellectual property rights too seriously. As a result, whenever he saw an animal that resembled any of his bulls anywhere in nearby villages, he would consider them to have been fathered by one of his champion bulls.
So, claiming copyright, he would seize it and take it to his kraal.
Clearly he would have been scandalised by Obama. As the world’s most powerful man, and because he has roots in Kogelo, in Kenya’s Nyanza, the US president is also the biggest African chief ever. But there was nothing African about Obama in Ghana.
First, African chiefs never travel empty-handed. People know that you are a chief going by what you left in their mouths. I watched carefully, and Obama was greeting Ghanaians “like that” without leaving anything in any of the outstretched palms.
A modern African chief would travel with suitcases full of money, which he would “pour” wherever he went. Let us look at a case from Uganda.
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni came to power in 1986, after a five-year war based in an area called Luwero Triangle, about an hour’s drive from Kampala.
In 1985 the Museveni rebels set out on a long trek toward the west, from where they regrouped and begun the big push eastward that eventually handed them victory.
Some years ago, Museveni went on a highly sentimental pilgrimage with some of his comrades in the war to retrace that journey.
Peasants, some of who had given the rebels food and other support back then, turned out and stood on the roadside to greet the pilgrims.
Museveni was aware that he was returning as a chief, not a penniless rebel leader, so he carried sacks of money.
Everywhere he stopped to greet the people, he showered them with envelopes stuffed with money. That is the African way. By those standards, Obama was a failure.
Then, and this was the definitive one, he went back to America without a Ghanaian wife. My great grandfather would have been appalled.
The elders would have either accused his wife Michelle of having “bewitched” him so that he could not look at another beauty, or they would have complained that “Michelle was the one wearing the trousers in the house.”
In the good old days when we had real African chiefs and kings, wherever they travelled, the tribes along their path gave them brides.
This served many purposes. First, it helped keep the peace, because a powerful chief was less likely to attack his in-law tribe.
Secondly, it was an instrument for redistributing wealth. Since land, fishes, forests, name it, belonged to the king, there were two ways of getting to share the wealth.
You either joined the king’s army and rose to be a great general, and he would reward you with land and forests; or you ensured that your daughter got married into the palace.
If the king were happy with her, he would give her clan or tribe goodies. Otherwise, there was no fair system for distributing the kingdom’s wealth.
However, Obama did not escape my great grandfather’s Africa altogether. He (and many Africans for that matter) might not have realised it, but those female traditional dancers who put on a show for him — and entertain the VIPs on big national days — are a rather embarrassing relic of this past.
About The Author: Charles Onyango-Obbo — is Uganda’s leading political commentator. He is Nation Media Group’s managing editor for convergence and new products. Charles writes for The Monitor, Uganda’s only independent daily and most influential newspaper and The East African, a Nation-Media publication. Be sure to check out his Article Archive featuring hundreds of Charles’s greatest publications. More Articles By Mr. Onyango Obbo: [ CLICK HERE ]
New York Times: Ghana’s democratic elections and comparatively well-managed economy are still not the norm in Africa, and the list of imploding, unstable countries is long.
Mr. Obama says he chose Ghana to “highlight” its adherence to democratic principles and institutions, ensuring the kind of stability that brings prosperity. “This isn’t just some abstract notion that we’re trying to impose on Africa,” he told AllAfrica.com. He added: “The African continent is a place of extraordinary promise as well as challenges. We’re not going to be able to fulfill those promises unless we see better governance.”
Despite the obvious wincing Obama’s criticism of Kenya may cause, many Kenyans not only seem to understand Mr. Obama’s choice to visit Ghana, but endorse it. Kenyans often follow politics like a sport, so it was not uncommon to hear them in recent weeks describing Mr. Obama’s choice as a savvy one, insulating him from any accusations that he was favoring his father’s country. [ READ MORE ]
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A Kenyan author, Barrack Muluka, has a different view. According to Mr. Muluka: “Kenya doesn’t need Obama to show us how to make Kenya a great country.”
“….all this American talk about democratic styling up is a lot of fudge.” “….What was he(Obama) doing in Egypt the other day?” “Egypt is the headquarters of dictatorship and emergency laws in Africa.” “But Americans thrive on contradictions and double speak, from Guatemala and Honduras and from Chile and Nicaragua, all the way to Zaire.” “They have been associated with some of the worst regimes in history and will remain so for a long time to come. Obama is only the latest custodian of American doublespeak,” says Mr. Muluka
“He is in Ghana to ingratiate himself with the present generation of American African slaves of yesteryear, through visiting their ancestral lands. He already came to Kenya to sanitise his own ancestry ahead of his successful presidential bid.” “He did not want this to be an election issue.” “He has been to dictatorial Egypt to pacify the Islamic world.” “There is nothing to bring him to Kenya, and I doubt that it is important for him to come to Kenya – to bring what?,” adds Muluka. [ READ MORE ]
President Obama To Ghana’s Lawmakers: “Fighting among faiths and tribes” must end for progress to begin. Obama also told the lawmakers that Africa needs “opportunity for more people,” and that “Africa’s diversity should be a source of strength, not a cause for division.” He pledged that the U.S. will help fight HIV/AIDS, tropical diseases and childhood illnesses in Africa. [ READ MORE ] [ READ MORE (2) ]
I think we are in danger of getting carried away by Obama and forgetting to do one of the things that has enabled Africans survive all sorts of hardships — have a good laugh.
