Vigour Personified

The rains had stopped; the sea closed its gates. A deadly famine had spread throughout the southern Accra Plains, the home of the Ga people. The long wait of hunger was painful. Then when the harvest finally arrived and food became plentiful, the people celebrated with a festival that ridiculed hunger. That is the tale behind Homowo, which means ‘hooting at hunger’, the widely celebrated festival of Ghana. Thus is the nation’s mind. They hoot and howl at hunger, and dance with the ball. They may be a bit harsh in their tackles, but they are a hard-working group who are such a fierce force. The Black Stars have conquered the Czechs, next is America, and then may be the mighty Samba boys. “We know America is a big country and Ghana is a small country,” the chief of the army says, “But it's just a game of football.” Stephen Appiah doesn’t want to take the game to any higher level more than a sport. He is modest in words, but all mighty men are like that.

Turn back the clock a year before. It was a Champions League group game between Fenerbahce and Schalke. The Turkish side were trailing 3-2 with something more than ten minutes left. A free-kick from deep wide right was headed clear by the German defence, but only as far as to one man waiting at the edge of the box. He brings the ball down with his left foot, then all in a flash, lifts and clips the ball to the left top corner of the post. Goalkeeper was shell-shocked with the speed. It was a goal that combined deftness, splendour, pace and awesome strength, one of the goals of the season. The scorer was none other than the Ghanaian captain, Stephen Appiah. Then the commentator screamed, “If he leads his country in next year’s World Cup, he will take that desire with him, that swine force, that determination, and Ghana will be a force to reckon with him at the helm”. Those words have come true. Appiah has led Ghana in Germany to new heights. He has formed an implausible partnership in the middle of the field with Chelsea’s Michael Essien and they have been instrumental in their win over the Czech Republic. Gyan Asamoah may be among the goals, Kingson maybe the man keeping the clean-sheet, but for both, the helping hand has been provided by Appiah. That is Stephen Appiah, he comes back to defend, creates the moves from midfield and provides the passes leading to goals. The pass that led to Gyan’s goal that stunned the Czech at the start of the game is an example of his vision.

Stephen Appiah started playing for his country from his teenage. He was much of a striker at the start of his career. When he moved to Italy from the Accra’s ‘Hearts of Oak’, to join Udinese, as any other African player migrating to Europe, he was a player who was not aware of his position. Then in the next three seasons with them, he became a midfielder. Parma snatched him at the turn of the millennium, but Viral Hepatitis came on as a monster. He fought and his days at the Ennio Tardini were not that bright. Then he was loaned to Brescia, and there he caught the eyes of the Turin giants Juventus. When the ‘Old Lady’ was calling, he couldn’t resist. He helped Juve win the title twice, then in a fight for a regular starting place, almost lost out to young Manuel Blasi. That prompted a move to Turkish club Fenerbahce. There he settled into a defensive midfielder role. In Italy he had to go through the wings occasionally, but in Turkey, he realised that he belongs to the centre. He is one always to take centre stage. Taking the captaincy of the national team, he hasn’t had to look back.

Appiah often engages in violent battles in the field. He is so stern in his dealings and ferocious with the opponents. The whole of Ghana is like that. Essien might have hurt a few knees, but people criticising him for sacrificing the beauty of the game are not aware of his early years. He started earning bread for his family, to stop his mother doing the same. She had been baking and selling bread in a market outside Accra to help raise her five children. The unkind past had a lot of bruises in the minds of these Ghanaian footballers; it is that what they are inflicting upon their opponents on the field. Also the war has to be a bit brutal when it is for such an esteemed crown. Now Listen to the songs of Elvis Presley, “Black stars keep behind me, black stars / There’s a lot of livin’ I gotta do \ Give me time to make a few dreams come true.” The Black stars are here to make their dreams come true. They might end up with nothing, there is a lot of living they have to do, but one thing is for sure, Stephen Appiah and Ghana will not give up without a fight.

Crossing the Frail Bridge between the Dark and the Radiance

The ‘Dark Continent’ has always brought to football, a distinct air of zeal, a truly emotional fervour and vehemence of light. When Milla and his Indomitable Lions ensnared Argentina and stunned audiences with their free-flowing passing and incredible determination in Italia’90, then when the Super-Eagles surprised the world in ’94 and ’98 with total commitment, and most recently in 2002, when Teranga Lions made the opening match and the tournament at large theirs, by demolishing favourites France, the world’s most important sporting occasions were witnessing the force of Africa. Those ‘traditional’ heavyweights from the zone, Cameroon, Nigeria and Senegal along with South Africa, Morocco and Egypt are all not travelling with their squads for this edition. Instead it is a group of so-called minnows who are making their trip to Germany: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Angola, Togo and ‘ubiquitous’ Tunisia. The first four are making their debut, but that doesn’t mean any decline, it is the fact that the game is expanding in the continent. All these teams are not coming to Germany for the sake of appearance; they are coming out to prove something, that ‘the dark is not that dark'.

Roger Milla’s Makossa dance, Nwankwo Kanu’s never-tiring runs, El Hadji Diouf’s colourful character, Jay-Jay Okocha’s bagful of tricks, Stephen Appiah’s hugely physical influence, Samuel Eto’o’s great eye of scoring and Hatem Trabelsi’s devoted compassion has all given the people all over the world joy, and that is what these African stars always brings with them, they bring joy for the beholders, and what else should you do if you are playing this wonderful game called football? Kolo Toure might be a bit too harsh in his tackles, Michael Essien might be aiming at the opponents’ knees when he should have tried to win the ball, Emmanuel Eboue might act as being fouled and fall down easily to win free-kicks for his side and Didier Drogba might hoodwink the officials by using his hand often to score the goal. Those acts bring disgrace to the game for sure. But all those frolics are performed because of their intense thirst to succeed. The quest for victory makes them take a few nasty routes. They may be unpardonable offences in the eyes of purists, but to forgive, as it is said, is divine. You cannot only blame them for their acts, it is the long history of being abused, mocked and kept separated from others that have given them this intensity, and the sinners are not just them.

In Angola, thirty years of civil war has only just ended. “You have estranged families, tribes, groups. And then football comes along, and everyone is suddenly sitting around a table. That’s when I realised for the first time what power football has”, says Franz Beckenbauer, the legendary German captain and head of the World Cup organising committee. On his round-the-world welcome tour, he says he was largely mystified by Africa, “In Angola, the children are playing amid stones and broken glass. It would be so easy to give them at least a flat piece of ground. But you have to be there otherwise the money will go elsewhere.” Thus is the state with the country and not much different is the case with other places in Africa. There are always cries of unrest, political coups, mismanagement leading to chaos, but amidst all that there is this strong desire to play. Now, when the Continent is given the huge boost by awarding the World Cup 2010 to South Africa, very deservedly so, there are signs of hope.

If in Germany, some of those teams can produce major giant-killing performances, it won’t be much of a surprise. If Angola or Togo can create a terror to their old masters Portugal and France respectively, that will not be just fortune, but a lot of hard-work Arsenal’s winter transfer acquirement Adebayor, who led Togo single-handedly to World Cup will be waiting for such a chance. Senegal’s impressive performance in Korea-Japan was always credited to the attackers Diouf, Diop and Camara, but there goalkeeper Tony Sylva had a huge part to play. A similar influence could be made by Togo’s FC Metz goalkeeper Kossi Agassa, who is rated high in Africa. Tunisia may spring a surprise to Spain and Ukraine. In Bolton’s Radhi Jaidi, they have got a very solid defender, and he is also good in the air. He, along with Trabelsi, will be a hard defence to break down. Veteran Sami Osei Kuffour, Gyan Asamoah and Otto Addo will be trying to use their large experience of playing in German conditions to Ghana’s advantage. Ghana’s midfield is strengthened by Chelsea’s Essien and Fenerbahce’s Appiah and that has got the ability to break a lot of Italian, Czech and American hearts. Though they had one of the greatest African footballers in Ali Abedi Pele, the country could never make an impression at senior level, but maybe this is their time. The fiercest of the African teams are placed in the toughest group. Ivory Coast is placed along with Argentina, Netherlands and Serbia and Montenegro, and the group stages will be really difficult for them to pass through. But if that acid-test is over, they can look for glory. In Didier Drogba, though very much controversial, they have a most deadly striker. He is partnered in attack by some silent predators like Aruna Dindane, Arouna Kone and Bonaventure Kalou. Kolo Toure is a fine central defender known for his successful tackles and in Eboue, they have an excellent wing-back with great pace and agility. These two gunners played a crucial part in taking their club to Champions league final. Thus Ivory Coast can be a tough nut to crack for the flashy Argentines, young Dutchmen and rock-solid Serbs.

Whatever be their showing in Germany, they will make the flag of Africa fly high. Even if the extent of indiscipline is reached to the maximum by them, try to absolve their acts, for they were treated so badly for such a long time by the world. The words of Pele that an African side will lift the trophy within a decade of this century may not come true, but they will always create an impression. They are born athletes bringing with them the might of muscles. They never mastered the ways of speaking softly, so they shout. Even their explosions can turn to be musical like the beats of drums, which bring rhythm with them, the cadence of delight.