Africa Stands United Behind its Teams

The 2006 World Cup in Germany got off to a somewhat discouraging start for the five teams representing Africa. Angola has joined Togo and the Ivory Coast in crashing out of the tournament. The only real cheer so far has been Ghana's stunning defeat of the world's second-ranked team, the Czech Republic, on June 17.

There is something striking about Africa. It is the only continent in the world that supports its teams as a continent -- although for some strange reason, Black Africa does not usually support the North African teams like Tunisia or Morocco in quite the same way as sub-Saharan teams.

South American, European or Asian countries will largely support their national teams in the World Cup finals. Most Africans -- even those from countries whose teams are not represented -- refer to the participating African teams in such terms as "Our first game is on Friday" or "Why are we losing chances for scoring?"

The World Cup reflects the African struggle

The World Cup is not only a collective African effort. It is also a deeply emotional and political event. It will never be simply an entertaining sporting event. For Africans, the tournament represents the noble and desperate struggle of a historically downtrodden, enslaved and impoverished man to assert himself -- to demonstrate that he too counts on the world stage.

That is the psychology and collective feeling that accompanies any African team into the World Cup finals, particularly the Black African teams.

In that sense, so great was the disappointment at the initial series of defeats for Africa that the Ghana victory was almost as enthralling as that felt in 2002, when Senegal defeated Sweden to advance to the quarter-finals.

Hopes Ghana will beat United States

The next match between Ghana and the United States on Thursday is certain to be one of the most fervently watched matches for Africans who now regard Ghana as Africa's most realistic chance of a place in the second round and are pinning their hopes on this debutant team.

But much more than that, Ghana plays against a country that is widely resented across Africa. It is a superpower that, in the eyes of many, represents all that is the bully, exploitatively wealthy and powerful about the western world. For all the efforts that many Africans make to migrate or study in the West, there is deep-seated resentment against western countries, led symbolically by the United States.

It is not forgotten by people in West Africa that most of the slaves who were uprooted from Africa and taken to America during the 15th century trans-Atlantic slave trade were taken primarily from Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Ghana loss could spread clouds of despair

A win by Ghana would send waves of joy across Africa. A defeat -- especially following the great excitement following the win over the Czech Republic -- would amount to a wound on the soul of Africa.

However, more cautious watchers of the Ghana-Czech game were left haunted by the number of opportunities for more goals that were carelessly squandered by the West Africans. Africa's tendency to falter under the enormous pressure of expectations at the World Cup has twice sunk Cameroon in 1990 and Senegal in 2002.

Could the first-time Ghana succumb both to an organized United States and the weight of expectations and disappoint Africa with another cruel defeat? The possibility for such an outcome, for which many enthusiastic African fans are unprepared, could spread clouds of despair across the African continent.

Timothy Kalyegira is a special projects writer for the Daily Monitor newspaper in Kampala, Uganda.