Charles Nyende
20 January 2008
Nairobi — Football madness has gripped host nation Ghana. You can tell if from the moment you disembark at the Kotoka Airport in Accra.
The bill boards mounted inside the airport leave you in little doubt where the 26th African Nations Cup is being held.
"Akwamba. Welcome to Ghana. The football Nation" one colourful message stares at your face. Akwamba is welcome in the Ashante language.
"Ignite the passion of the game. Ghana: the home of football," another billboard loudly acclaims.
Several help desks on the tournament at the airport give any visitor every reason to believe the hosts are taking the tournament very seriously.
Then the shirts.
Almost every Ghanaian has donned a replica shirt of their national football team, the Black Stars.
The shirts come in black, white or yellow, colours that represent the Ghanian flag.
Roadside attire traders and the itinerant traders have all moved to the business of selling football shirts and from the way the local population is dressed they are clearly making good business
But the biggest indication that Ghanaians have gone, to borrow a common phrase, gaga, about the beautiful games is their loving display of the national flag.
Almost every car on the street has a Ghanaian flag proudly sticking out in the sultry Accra air. Big cars, small cars, motorbikes, bicycles, if it moves it will have the flag.
"Ghanaians are very patriotic," Robert, a taxi driver said be way of explanation.
"We are really hoping the cup stays in Ghana," he added hopefully.
The patriotism has been carried to stationary objects, with trees, lamp posts also having to support several Ghanaian flags mounted on them.
The country has almost come to a complete standstill with the opening match today between the Black Stars and Guinea a complete sell-out.
But the enthusiasm of the nation has not been matched by the organisation which has left may visitors a frustrated lot particularly the journalists.
By Saturday evening, hundreds of local and international media personnel we still anxiously lined up at the Kofi Annan Centre where accreditation was taking place still waiting to get the precious document.
Many press people had to endure long hours in the queue waiting to get cleared. The process was made worse by the fact that the accreditation centre was also being used to process other personnel including security, medical and protocol.
But the hardship did not end there.
The main press centre, located at the nearby National Theatre building, had not been set up by yesterday forcing many scribed to look for cyber cafes.
Organisers have been overwhelmed by the scale of the 26th edition of the African Nations Cup and will be hard pressed to improve things particularly after the unflattering comparison that has been made with the seamless organisation in Egypt two years ago.
Hosts Ghana are out to ride a tide of expectation when they play the opening African Nations Cup match against Guinea in Accra on Sunday night, kick off 8 pm Kenyan time.
The Black Stars, chasing a record-equalling fifth Nations Cup title, are desperate to make a winning start in Group A against their west African rivals, who were quarter-finalists in 2006.
"I think if we have three points at the end of the first day, we will be ready for the games that follow.
"We really need to achieve something in the opening game," said Ghana coach Claude Le Roy.
But the experienced French coach, in charge of a team at a record sixth Nations Cup tournament, expects a tough assignment. "They have an excellent squad," he said of Guinea.
"A lot of attacking players. They are very skilful. We are aware that it will be very difficult against them."
Ghana are counting on the 40,000 crowd at the newly-refurbished stadium to get behind the side.
But they will have to shift around their midfield after injury ruled out captain Stephen Appiah. Winger Sulley Muntari is likely to be brought into the middle, with a first starting berth on the left given to 18-year-old Dede Ayew, the son of former Ghana captain Abedi Pele.
A key figure for Ghana now is Muntari's fellow central midfielder Michael Essien, who missed out two years ago because of injury.
Le Roy, whose side will also face Morocco and Namibia in Group A, said he has told his men to relish the experience of the tournament, saying: "Not many players will get this opportunity."
Guinea, who arrived on Wednesday, have spent the last two weeks training in Spain and beat Sudan 6-0 and 1-0 in two friendly matches in Malaga. "It is no easy task to play against the host nation in a tournament like this, but it is also an honour to compete in the opening match," Guinea coach Robert Nouzaret told Reuters.
As Ghana prepares to set the ball rolling, young Ghana talent Dede Ayew hopes to emulate his father, former African Footballer of the Year Abedi Pele, and help Ghana win the cup.
Ayew, who made his league debut at French club Olympique Marseille this season, is expected to start when Ghana host Guinea in the tournament's opening match in Accra.
At 18, Ayew has a chance to mirror the first major achievement of his father, who was a 17-year-old prodigy when Ghana last won the Nations Cup in 1982.
"I think we can do something great for this country in this tournament," the junior Ayew said on Friday as the Black Stars put their final touches together for the Sunday's game.
"I would obviously want to achieve the same as my father did.
"We are taking it all very seriously. As hosts we know we have to get off to a good start and to qualify for the next round." He added: "Guinea have a great team and we know Sunday's (today's) match will be difficult but we have the fighting spirit and the people behind us to go on and do great things at this tournament."
Ayew won the first of his four caps last year but all his appearances for Ghana have come as a substitute. The absence of injured captain Stephen Appiah in midfield means Ayew is likely to earn promotion to coach Claude Le Roy's starting line-up. "We had all the opportunity to prepare properly in Dubai where we had a good training camp, which was great to build our team spirit," said Ayew.
"At the moment it has all gone off very well and if it continues like this we can go very far." - Additional reporting by Reuters
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
