Good for Ghana

Ghana fans: Lovin it.

CAN’T SAY I know all that much about football/soccer. Like most, though, I’ve been taking in the World Cup action whenever I can.

In a multicultural city such as Toronto, you simply can’t avoid the hoopla, and it’s been fun to watch the various ethnic communities around town reacting as their teams win or lose. (That said, I won’t miss the Koreans’ car horns blaring on the street outside my apartment.)

It’s not shocking to see most of the teams that have reached the quarter-finals. Brazil, Spain, Germany and Argentina etc. are the usual contenders. But I was surprised to see Ghana had made it through, by beating the U.S. no less.

Ghana is only the third African nation ever to make it to a World Cup quarter-final; Cameroon did it in 1990 and Senegal in 2002. Heck, Ghana didn’t even qualify for the World Cup until 2006. “Now they carry the colours of Africa as well as 23 million Ghanaians,” the Daily Telegraph noted the other day.

Indeed, the governing party of South Africa — whose own team was a big fat dud on home turf – has apparently asked the Ghanaian team, the Black Stars, to change their name to “Black Stars of Africa.”

And of course, Ghanaians are going nuts for their rip-roaringly successful squad, which warms the heart — I’m not sure this West African nation gets many other chances to shine on the world stage.

They should live it up while it lasts. As I say, I’m no soccer aficionado, but I’m pretty sure that with Uruguay and the Netherlands / Brazil standing in their way on the road to the final, Ghana’s World Cup days are numbered.

ryan@roadtostarrdom.com