RUSTENBURG, South Africa — The buzz of the vuvuzelas, the ear-splitting plastic horns that have come to symbolize this World Cup, might be muffled to some degree by the elimination of five of the six African teams in the tournament. The sole flagbearer remaining from the host continent is Ghana, which plays the United States today (12:30 p.m. MDT, KMGH-7) in the round of 16.
“Ghana, Do It For Africa!” read the headline in The Star.
“We are All Black Stars Now” read the Mail and Guardian, a reference to Ghana’s team nickname, which comes from the ship Marcus Garvey wanted to use to take black Americans back to Africa.
Coming into this World Cup, there were high expectations for the African teams, but Cameroon, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Algeria and host South Africa are gone. All of Africa now rests its hopes on Ghana, a team sometimes called “The Brazil of Africa” because of its flair and success. The Black Stars have won five African Cup of Nations titles, qualified for five Olympics and won the 2009 under-20 World Cup over Brazil.
Four years ago, Ghana sent the U.S. packing from the World Cup in the first round with a 2-1 victory in Germany. The Black Stars won the game on Stephen Appiah’s penalty kick after a controversial foul called against Oguchi Onyewu.
“An injustice,” Onyewu said. “I still to this day don’t know where the foul came from.”
Six American starters are back from that game — Carlos Bocanegra, Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley, Onyewu and Steve Cherundolo.
They haven’t forgotten.
“I’m sure there’s some element of (wanting revenge) for those guys, but things change in four years,” U.S. coach Bob Bradley said. “We’re just excited to be in the knockout round.”
Ghana plays with one forward and crowds the midfield. They are fast, athletic and unpredictable, though the team has had trouble scoring.
“I believe all African countries support us, also,” defender Samuel Inkoom said. “I believe we will make them happy.”
