World Cup

World Cup fever has hit! And we've got an enticing matchup with USA vs. Ghana in the first round of the knockout stage. I've always enjoyed watching the World Cup but it took on new meaning to me when I was living in Ghana.

Worked in Ghana in '05 and was there when they qualified for the first time. One of my good friends was a former player heavily involved with football development in the country. "Coach Malik" had played for Ghana in the Olympics a few times and was the only well-traveled Ghanaian I had met.

Everywhere we went young men greeted him as "Coach Malik" and he asked about their latest performance and talked random football. It seemed to happen EVERYWHERE. We went to several games around Kumasi and we always got VIP seating. VIP seating meant you got to sit and get shade, completely invaluable in the hot equatorial sun.

I was doing research for an ethnomusicology program and was out in rural Ashanti Region attending a religious ceremony. This was some deep bush. Mud-hut, water on head from local river, witch doctor kind of bush. This place had electricity for about 2 hours every evening and even this wasn't consistent.

I'll never forget watching this religious ceremony. People were so serious about it and it had your typical serene religious ceremony vibe. All of the sudden some barefoot kid runs into the area screaming a dialect I didn't understand. Suddenly everyone puts down their drums, the head stops chanting and people jump up and down in jubilation.

I cheered hard for Ghana in the last cup as a result. Coach Malik even gave me a call and said the largest manufacturing plants and mines would shut down for the days of Ghana's games to ensure everyone had electricity to watch or listen to the games. Absolutely psyched they got through.

This year...the matchup I didnt want! I'm so happy for US football and bummed that Ghana doesn't have Essien. I'll have to wave my US flag but I wouldn't be disappointed if Ghana gets through.