Black Stars Moments at South Africa 2010

Despite their quarter final exit from the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Ghana's Black Stars were Africa's brightest stars in South Africa 2010. They were hosted to a befitting reception by adoring South African people. I was there and caught a little bit of the experience on video. Enjoy!

Despite its popularity with fans across the world, the vuvuzela – the unofficial symbol of the just concluded 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa - is an unwanted piece of property in the English Football, which kicks off in August. At the last count, nine Premiership clubs - Arsenal, Birmingham, Everton, Fulham, Liverpool, West Ham United, Sunderland, West Brom and Tottenham Hotspurs; and four Championship clubs - Cardiff City, Ipswich Town, Leicester City and Southampton, have already stated their disapproval of the brightly coloured plastic horn which can reportedly generate a drone of up to 144 decibels inside stadiums, much louder than fireworks, a referee’s whistle or a plane taking off. “We are concerned that the presence of the instruments within the stadium pose unnecessary risks and could impact on the ability of all supporters to hear any emergency safety announcements," read the statement on the Tottenham’s official website.

During South Africa 2010, ear plugs called Vuvu-stops, were popular among some fans, who felt the vuvuzela sound was annoying. “Imagine the sound of a swarm of bees seeking out honeycomb, only much, much louder,” noted one disgruntled fan. Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, and Spain’s Xabi Alonso were some of the players who complained that the sound disturbed players’ concentration on the pitch. “I think they should be banned. They make it very difficult for the players to communicate. They are a distraction and do nothing for the atmosphere,” Alonso had said. Not every fan present at during the World Cup would agree with him as the noise from the vuvuzela was a popular soundtrack across the ten stadia.

And for mobile Vuvuzela traders like Israel Vera in Johannesburg, he couldn’t be bothered. Just before the World Cup final, Vera told the magazine that he had already sold over three hundred vuvuzelas. His stock was the brightly coloured one wrapped with designs of the South African flag. Depending on the buyer, Vera’s sold his product for between forty and seventy rands (N1,000 or N1,400). Some designer models went for as much as two hundred and fifty rands (Five thousand naira). At another store in Johannesburg, one foreign visitor bought fourteen vuvuzelas at once, thereby exhausting the last stock. Before the England’s exit in the second round, football fans in England reportedly bought vuvuzelas at a rate of one every two seconds. Popular supermarket chain, Sainsbury, was said to have sold 22,000 red vuvuzelas in 12 hours before one of England's game. The supermarket chain also ordered 25,000 extra horns ahead of England’s game against Algeria.

Now that some Premiership Clubs are reluctant to welcome the South African import, the dilemma for most English fans who returned home with vivuzelas is what to do with it now that the World Cup is over. For brisk vuvuzela businessmen like Vera, it was just ayoba (fine) doing business with the English. But for some Premiership clubs, they wouldn’t need the vuvuzela soundtrack highlighting the English game. The 2010/11 Premiership kicks off August 14.

FINALLY, SPAIN WINS THE WORLD CUP

And so it was that for one month, the whole world stopped for the love of football.

After thirty one days of football, 145 goals, and 3, 178, 856 spectators at 64 matches in ten stadiums across South Africa, the 2010 FIFA World Cup ended on July 11 with Spain being crowned as champions for the first time in their history. Spain needed an Andres Iniesta 116^th minute extra time goal to clinch a 1-0 victory against Holland in the final played at Soccer City in Soweto.

Before the final between Spain Holland, a crazy fan tried to get his hands on the FIFA World Cup trophy in Soccer City. He was intercepted by security guards before hereached it. But the deed had been done, the fan can now bask in his worldwide popularity with the picture of that moment circulated all over the world.

Although it pitted two teams that were weaned on the concept of total football, the 2010 FIFA World Cup final will not exactly be remembered as a classic. With a record fourteen yellow cards, English referee Howard Webb also entered the history books, surpassing the six yellows collected by Argentina and West Germany in the 1986 final. Eight Dutch players and five Spaniards were shown yellows, while Dutch defender, John Heitinga was also sent off in the match, which some analysts have described as one between ‘beauty and the beast’. 

For others, it was poetic justice. Spain, having suffered the unfortunate tag of under-achievers before their sole Euro 2008 triumph, finally got their hands on the most coveted prize in world football to justify their current rating as the best team on the planet. “They deserve the title. Spain was clearly the best team in this World Cup. Only Germany came close to them and they beat them in the semi finals,” said one fan after the match. Although, they scored only eight goals en route to winning the title, the fewest ever scored by World Cup winners, the Spaniards were consistent in their display of beautiful football.

It was also double celebration for Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas, who became the third goalkeeper to captain a team winning the World Cup after Italians Combi and Dino Zoff in 1934 and 1982 respectively. Also, a Youtube video showing an emotional Casillas kissing his reporter girlfriend, Sara Carbonero, during a live television interview after the Spanish triumph, will remaining an enduring image in the minds of thousands of fans across the world.

Spanish supporters also did not have enough time to savour their teams’ victory inside the Soccer City stadium as freezing temperatures drove them back to celebrate in the comfort of their hotel rooms or the bars around the city. But they were not to be denied the bliss of celebrating at home with their football heroes in the sweltering forty degrees Celsius temperature in Madrid the day after. An estimated one million people lined up the five-mile route in the Spanish capital when the team paraded the city in an open-top bus. The players also met Spain’s royal family and Jose Rodriguez Zapatero, the Spanish Prime Minister.

For the Dutch team, it was third time unlucky after being losing finalists in the 1974 and 1978 editions. “If you play a World Cup final, you need a world-class referee. I don’t know if today was a world-class performance from the referee,” fumed Arjen Robben after the match. But Webb would certainly not be blamed for his two fatal misses which would have swung the match in favour of Holland before Iniesta’s late strike. The 1978 edition was the last time an extra-time goal was needed to decide the World Cup final. Coincidentally, the Dutch suffered it when Argentina scored the second of two extra-time goals to seal a 3-1 win. Holland are the only team to have played three World Cup finals without winning a title. Many Dutch fans were also left ruing the role of Paul the Octopus, who predicted a Spanish win in the final. 

BAGHANA BAGHANA: THE TRIUMPHANT EXIT AND ENTRY OF THE BLACK STARS

Although they did not make it to the semi final of the 2010 World Cup, thanks to a Luis Suarez hand ball and Asamoah Gyan unfortunate penalty miss, the Black Stars of Ghana were given a welcome befitting of only World Cup champions on Sunday, July 4 at Soweto’s Melrose Arch. The Black Stars players and coaching staff were treated to a victory parade worthy of World Cup champions all the way from their Protea Hotel base through the streets of Soweto and then to Melrose Arch. There, many more fans had been patiently waiting for their arrival. Ghana is the third African team, after Cameroon and Senegal, to reach the quarter final stages of the FIFA senior World Cup.

Fondly called BaGhana BaGhana after being ‘adopted’ by their teeming South African fans, the Rainbow nation showed them how proud they were of the West African team’s quarter final placing as thousands of fans turned out on the streets of Soweto all the way to Melrose Arch, where the team finally alighted to a rousing welcome by more fans, mostly youths. They had been waiting for hours just to see their darling African team of the 2010 World Cup.

The hours’ long ceremony was a victory paraded of sorts as the Black Stars convoy had full South Africa Police escort, with thousands of fans lined up the highway, just to catch a glimpse of their newest African heroes. It was a spectacular sight to behold as the players and coaching staff were treated to a reception befitting of royalty. With many screaming the names of Asamoah Gyan, Andre Ayew, Kevin Prince-Boateng and others, you would think Ghana had just won the 2010 World Cup trophy. “Prince! Prince! Prince!” some of the female fans screamed trying to get the attention of Black Stars defender, Kevin Prince Boateng. A couple of them were unrelenting until Boateng finally waved at them. You would think it was a musical concert featuring the likes of Jay Z, Beyonce or Alicia Keys. Occasional screams of the different Black Stars players rented the air as the excited crowd cheered when Kwesi Nyantakyi, president of Ghana Football Association, introduced the team and coaching staff on the podium. Although the likes of Sulley Muntari, who scored the only goal in the quarter final loss, and Stephen Appiah were absent for unexplained reasons. While Gyan danced to the delight of the fans when he was introduced to the crowd. Interesting, that looks like he had gotten over the penalty miss. Good for him. Andre Ayew, Black Stars midfielder and son of the legendary Abedi Pele, said that despite the penalty miss, they were fully behind Gyan. “It is part of the game. He is a top striker and we want him to be a top striker, and one of the biggest African strikers. We have confidence in him because he does a lot of work for us. The least we can do for him is to help him express himself in scoring more goals,” said Ayew.

Popular Ghanaian high life musicians like C.K. Mann, and Natbrew also dished out scintillating performances at the occasion. “Thank you, South Africa, thank you, Africa!” exclaimed Akua Sena Dansua, Ghana’s Minister of Youth and Sports, obviously delighted at the show of appreciation from the teeming crowd. “I would also like to use this opportunity to thank his Excellency, the Mandiba, Nelson Mandela, and Winnie Mandela...the people of South Africa will always be on our minds. We love you. We thank you very much,” she said. For Ayew, it was an unforgettable moment to see the amazing show of appreciation from South African people. “I was in the stands because I was suspended against Uruguay. And I saw how the supporters, the whole South Africa were behind us and we cannot thank them enough. We can only tell them that we are disappointed that we couldn’t make it. But then, we are happy for reaching the next stage. We are happy that we gave our best. It’s because we gave our best, that’s why they have supported us like this. We just have to thank them hugely,” Ayew told me the next day, on their way back to Accra, where another rousing reception awaited them.

For their impressive quarter final showing, the Ghanaian government later announced that members of the team, the coach and assistant, were to receive $20,000 each and national honours as reward for their performance in South Africa. For many of their teeming fans across Africa, it is a reward well deserved.  Go BaGhana BaGhana! Africa is proud of your performance in South Africa 2010 (Super Eagles, shay una dey hear?).

DIARY OF A WORLD CUP ROBBERY

You have the right to disagree. But Brazilian fans are the most exotic of them all. With their beautiful girls, samba displays and side attractions, they literally lit up Ellis Park stadium in Johannesburg before and after Brazil’s match against Chile on Monday, June 28 for a place in the 2010 World Cup quarter finals. The match itself was full of fireworks and poor Chile, they were no match for the samba rhythms of the night. 3-0 for Dunga’s men and it’s up and away to face the Orange men of Netherlands.

However, a robbery incident almost an hour after the match almost marred a perfect night for the fans and media persons who braced the cold to watch the game at Ellis Park. It happened in one of the media shuttles as it was waiting to depart. An American photojournalist discovered that his hefty bag containing his expensive camera, photography equipment and laptops was missing. It was a wrenching sight to see a middle aged man looking so devastated. I and some other guys from the shuttle tried to calm him down as he frantically searched the bus and around it for his equipment worth nothing less than $50,000 or more. “They f....king took my bag!” he wailed. The commotion around the shuttle attracted departing fans from the stadium, and then the Johannesburg police. While the police asked questions, the American lay crumbled on the floor looking absolutely gutted. “All my work in this tournament is gone, everything!” he said painfully. Two weeks of painstaking work taking exclusive pictures and preparing reports. If you’re a journalist, you would understand his pain. Because of the incident, the bus was delayed for about 25 minutes or so.

According to the American, while the bag was beside him in the bus, he noticed someone knocking on the window to get his attention. And in that few seconds of distraction, he lost sight of his bag and it was gone. A couple of persons said that they saw someone passing a bag from the window some minutes ago. One of the South Africans said he noticed it was a white man and thought maybe he was just one of the media persons in the bus, so didn’t think it strange. Another man said it must have been two people, one working from the outside and another for the inside, But nobody knew for sure who took the bag. The general view was that the thieves may have been trailing his movement for days before to have pulled such a fast one. Since the robbery incident involving some Spanish and Portuguese journalists days before the World Cup kicked off, there has not been any major incident of crime during this tournament. Or maybe, FIFA and the South African media have been able to hush most of it.  

“This is Johannesburg, man. Where are you gonna find the guys who stole it?” one Ugandan journalist asked no one in particular. Sure, with its frequent crime rates and size, combing the city for the thieves would be an arduous task for the World Cup police. Seeing the way I showed concern about the American’s plight, one of the policemen asked if I would accompany him to make an official complaint of the incident so that swift investigation would begin. The American gratefully said I shouldn’t bother because the bus driver was already blaring his horn for me to join them. Later in the bus, I found out the reason why the Ugandan was sceptical about the police recovering the American’s bag. Some few days ago, he also was robbed off some items just around the street by his hotel lodge. And he suspected the cab driver he frequently used may have given the thieves some tips about his movements. “How come, they knew I was returning at that exact time? Then, I always brought out my money from that small bag whenever I want to pay the cab driver,” he said. He ended up losing two phones, four hundred rands and his accreditation badge. To get another one, he had to pay 1,500 rands. FIFA rules. Interestingly, when he reported it to the police, they told him he was lucky that it was not at gun point (or knife-point).

With the alertness of a mother hen watching over her chicks, I clutched ever more tightly to my laptop bag as we drove the way back to the hotel. It was almost 1 am in the morning. Father, I am covered. Into your hands, I commit my life, laptop and other essentials, I prayed silently as we took the next taxi home.

Welcome to the other side of South Africa 2010. I believe everything would stay just Ayoba: Perfect.

INTERVIEW WITH DICKSON ETUHU AFTER SUPER EAGLES 2-2 DRAW WITH S. KOREA

REACTION TO EAGLES OUSTER FROM THE 2010 WORLD CUP

It’s difficult when you have the chance to win the game and you don’t take it. It hurts. All the lads are down, everybody can’t believe it. It’s all over now.

YAKUBU’S FLUFFED GOAL SCORING CHANCE

Yeah, you would put your hands on him scoring that. But, today was not our day; everything that would go wrong went wrong. We missed our chances and it’s over now.

AN EXTRA GOAL WOULD HAVE SEEN NIGERIA THROUGH WITH ARGENTINA’S 2-0 WIN AGAINST GERECE, RIGHT?

Nobody knew the score. We weren’t interested in the score. We just wanted to win the game. And then, let nature takes its course.

THOUGHTS ON YAKUBU DESPITE MISS IN 2-2 DRAW WITH SOUTH KOREA.

He is a top, top striker, great player. I love playing with him. It could happen to anyone. It’s done now. This world cup has a lot of downs because there are a lot of chances that we could have got the points we needed to get. But we just didn’t do enough. It’s just almost, almost, almost. Everything is almost.

DASHED WORLD CUP HOPES

It just was not our world cup. Everything was just this close. But it was not enough. We have to do better......There is a lot of people crying in there. It’s so hard to deal with. Nobody wants to go out. We are a great nation. We have got 150 million people behind us. We’re out of the world cup. It’s finished....

IT WOULD BE GREAT FOR AN AFRICAN TEAM TO MAKE THE NEXT ROUND.

It’s very important. I’m sure an African team will make the next round.... My concern is with Nigeria. My country is everything.

Well, thank you, Dickson Etuhu. Ghana just did

AFTER A COLD, KAITA-STROPHIC BLOEMFONTEIN NIGHT

It started with a five and half hour drive from Johannesburg to Bloemfontein on Wednesday. Packed into a chartered bus, off we went to watch the Super Eagles play Greece. Every one of us was in an upbeat mood. From their impressive performance against Argentina, we all believed the Eagles could beat this Greece team. The match was scheduled for the next day. With a temperature forecast of minus two degrees, I wore two pairs of jeans and two thick wool sweaters, with an inner T-shirt. My outfit also included hand gloves, head warmer and a muffler. First rule in a freezing climate: always protect yourself.

The journey, although long, was s sharp departure from what obtains in Nigeria, with smooth road network, no potholes, less traffic and the absence of blaring car horns. Almost everybody in the bus kept wondering why despite the good work that Fashola is doing in Lagos, people are still trying to rubbish him. The tragedy of any nation is the absence of quality leadership or the abundance of charlatans in power circles who are ready to stifle any semblance of good leadership as long as it doesn’t conform to their selfish interests. Interestingly, I felt the driver was driving painfully slow, hovering between 80 km/h and 90km/h. But he explained that he didn’t want to beat the set speed limit on the highway. We later saw South African police cars and another car they had flagged down for probably driving too fast. Hmmn.

We arrived Bloemfontein just before 6pm, almost thirty minutes after the Super Eagles had begun their training. So we couldn’t gain access to their training session at the Free State Stadium because only the first 15 minutes of their training session was open to the media. No big deal, back to the FIFA media centre to organize for the pre-match press conference which was to hold immediately after the training ends. There, Lagerback expressed confidence about an Eagles’ victory. He also expressed satisfaction over Sani Kaita’s performance so far. Twenty four hours after, that comment would come back to haunt him. For South Africans and other international fans, Nigeria looked good for a win.

On match D-Day, the atmosphere was electric. “Greece gonna win 2-0,” one Greek fan boasted outside the stadium hours before the match. “Remember we beat you guys 2-0 in USA 94,” I reminded him. “No problem, we win this time,” he asserted. Let the boys prove us right or wrong on the pitch. We took pictures and went our separate ways. The carnival was still outside with Nigerian, South African and Greek fans blowing their vuvuzelas and screaming their support for their teams. Inside the Free State stadium, the atmosphere was absolutely electric. The vuvuzelas, at multiple decibels, were almost deafening, from all sides of the stadium. It was so vuvulectric. When both the Greek and Nigerian teams filed out for opening proceedings, the noise from the over 31,000 fans was deafening. This is what the World Cup was all about; passion and people.

And the games began. Kalu Uche got Nigeria’s 1^st goal in the 16^th minute and the Nigerian fans and well wishers went wild. The noise from their vuvuzelas increased, drowning that from the Greek supporter’s end. Until Kaita’s silly school boy rush of blood that earned him a red card in the 33^rd minute. He left the pitch in tears and left Nigerians supporters everywhere apprehensive for the next hour the match lasted. When Greece equalized in the 44^th minute, their fans hope were revived. At the start of the second half with the Greek team piling more attack on the Eagles defence, Nigerian fans sensed doom. Enyeama, again in the form of his life, was the only Nigerian player who restored the screams of delight among Nigerian supporters whenever he made a save. Greek sealed a deserved 2-1 win with a Vasileios Torosidis rebound in the 71^st minute. Game almost over. Even before the final whistle, the Eagles looked a defeated bunch already. The bench had no answer.

It was a sad sight to watch a forlorn Vincent Enyeama later presented with the Budweiser Man of the Match award just before the start of the post match press conference. You could see it on the poor guy’s face; he was wrenched with pain as he struggled with the tears. “Ol’ boy, no cry now. No be you cause am,” one Nigerian journalist tried to console him as he lfet the centre. Just then, Yobo, Lagerback and the FIFA official walked in. There was nothing new. Lagerback said playing with one man down was difficult for any team, especially on the World Cup stage. Fingers were also subtely pointed at the Jabulani ball for Greece 2^nd goal. No use crying over spilt milk. The Eagles had lost their second straight match in as many games. Qualification to the 2^nd round now hang in the balance. Few Nigerian journalists asked questions during the post match conference. They were livid with raged when Kaita and Obinna Nsofor later passed by the Mixed Zone, refusing to speak with the Nigerian media. Yobo, Martins and others also walked past without speaking to them, despite calls for them to say something to Nigerians. Some persons made excuses for Kaita that he had been crying all through. Although after much prodding from team officials (I think), he came back to speak with the media (not Nigerians). Minutes later, Kanu Nwankwo, Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Enyeama (the darling of the night) and Chinedu Obasi were the few ones to speak. Nigeria deserve better than this. And the Super Eagles players also need re-education. You can’t do this with the British media. They will skin you alive. Calamity Rob Green had no choice but to apologise to the whole of England after his blunder. Although getting a red card in a match could happen to any player, Kaita had a chance to redeem himself with the press. He didn’t take it immediately. Is this the end of his Eagles’ career?

We had planned to stay another night in Bloemfontein, but reconsidered it. It was a smooth night journey back to Johannesburg. A tasty chicken dinner plus banters and a 45 minute long distance phone call to a friend made it more pleasant for me. Kalamity Kaita and the Eagles loss was the discussion for most part of the trip. But, Nigerians will always be Nigerians, we made jokes about it and saw the light side of the match. Still, it was a cold, cold night in Bloemfontein, where the Eagles froze against a Greece side.