First Cup Berth Is the Sweetest for Ghana

Ghana's players had reason to smile after the Black Stars beat the Czech Republic, 2-0, on Saturday in the biggest surprise of the World Cup so far. (By Martin Meissner -- Associated Press)

WURZBURG, Germany, June 20 -- Thursday has already been declared as a national half-day holiday in Ghana, with businesses set to close for the afternoon, for one reason: The beloved Black Stars will face the United States in a pivotal World Cup match.

For a country that has waited 44 years to see its team on the sport's biggest stage, a little lost productivity is apparently a small price to pay to witness a potentially historic moment. A victory over the Americans, combined with an Italian win over the Czech Republic, would put Ghana into the round of 16 of the World Cup.

"If the republic wants to sacrifice it to afford people the opportunity to watch the match, it is suggestive of what they expect of us," said Randy Abbey, an official with the Ghana Football Association. "We want to make the half-holiday a worthwhile one."

That the Black Stars are in this position is somewhat remarkable, considering they lost their opening game to Italy, 2-0. But on Saturday, they pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament, beating the Czech Republic, 2-0, in a game that could have easily been 5-0 if not for world-class goalkeeper Petr Cech.

Now they go into their final game against the U.S. brimming with confidence, despite the fact that they will be missing two starters due to accumulated yellow cards (midfielder Sulley Muntari and forward Asamoah Gyan -- the two goal-scorers against the Czechs). Ghana's players believe they can be one of the two teams to emerge from Group E, which has turned out to be the most competitive group in the tournament.

"They have to worry," Coach Ratomir Dujkovic said of the U.S. team during a news conference in Wurzburg on Monday. "They have to worry and they will suffer this match because this Black Star team is not afraid of nobody."

Added midfielder Michael Essien, "We are ready to play anyone and we are not afraid to meet the Brazilians," Ghana's potential second-round opponent.

The Black Stars have long been one of the great mysteries of African soccer: How could a country with so much talent, so much history and so much success on its own continent repeatedly fail to reach the sport's biggest competition?

European merchants introduced soccer to Ghana at the end of the 19th century, and when the country gained its independence in 1957, becoming the first sub-Saharan country in Africa to do so, the sport remained an integral part of life. Ghana's first president, Kwame Nkrumah, viewed soccer as a means of empowerment, as a way to show Europe that African nations were capable of success in many things. Ghana first tried to qualify for the World Cup in 1962, though it did not break through until now.

Nevertheless, Ghana has had other success, winning its first African Cup of Nations title in 1963, and following it up with victories in 1965, 1978, and 1982. The country has produced talented players such as Abedi Ayew Pele and Tony Yeboah, as well as today's stars, Essien (Chelsea) and midfielder Stephen Appiah (Turkey's Fenerbahce).

"I think the place abounds with talent," said Ben Koufie, a former chairman of the Ghana Football Association and now a member of FIFA's technical committee. "It's how to mature it, that is the problem. How to nurture the talent we have in order to have a potentially good side. This is what has retarded our progress. Now we've started. We've started with grass-roots football development, catching them when they're young, monitoring their progress, so the future will look better for the country."

The core of the current Black Stars team played for Ghana's national youth teams before moving onto lucrative European careers. Defender Sammy Kuffour played for the 1991 team that won the under-17 world championship in Italy, and later spent several years with Bayern Munich.