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First Cup Berth Is the Sweetest for Ghana
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Appiah, the team captain, was the youngest member of the 1995 team that won the under-17 world championship; two years later he moved to Italy to play for Udinese, the start of an eight-year stay in Italy. Essien played in the 1991 under-17 world championship; last August he moved to Chelsea, becoming Africa's most expensive player ever (a roughly $40 million transfer fee).
The Black Stars had a rough start to qualifying, losing to Burkina Faso, 1-0, in their first game. But they improved after Dujkovic took over as coach, and eventually won CAF Group 2 ahead of favored South Africa. Earlier this year, they crashed out of the African Cup of Nations, losing to Nigeria and Zimbabwe and tying Senegal, a failure that led to calls for Dujkovic's dismissal.
Now, everything has changed.
"All Ghanians are happy with the performance of the Black Stars," Dujkovic said. "They believe and I am confident we can do much more."
In fact, Dujkovic has said that not only will the Black Stars advance out of their group, but that they will reach the semifinals, something that no African team has ever done.
The Ivory Coast and Togo have already been eliminated, while Tunisia and Angola face long odds to reach the second round. It is a curious burden that the African teams share; every team carries the hopes of the entire continent (after all, one never hears of Germany or England playing for all of Europe). Explained Koufie: "This is a competition of continents. Africa is an emerging continent, so if one country from Africa does well, the other countries take it as belonging to them because it's Africa."
So, for the past 44 years, Ghanaians have rooted for other African teams at the World Cup. They cheered as Cameroon made the quarterfinals in 1990, and as Senegal beat defending champion France in 2002.
But on Saturday, Ghanaians swarmed the streets of Accra, the capital, to celebrate their team's 2-0 victory over the favored Czechs. Finally, they are cheering for their own team.
"Exactly," Koufie said with a smile. "Now we are representing Africa."
