A Lonely American

Last night, I was a very lonely American. The United States lost to Ghana, and all of Africa went crazy. I turned off the TV and went to bed to the sounds of screaming and vuvuzelas.

The entire continent now is watching, rooting for, and has its hopes with the Black Stars of Ghana. For once, the country is getting its due.

African countries are often compared with South Korea as an example of how she has underperformed economically and politically while Asia has had immeasurable success. President Obama even stressed this in his speech to the Ghanaians last year. “Countries like Kenya had a per capita economy larger than South Korea’s when I was born,” he explained. “They have badly been outpaced. Disease and conflict have ravaged parts of the African continent.”

Yesterday, South Korea lost in the round of 16 and was eliminated, while Ghana beat the most powerful country in the world and will play in the quarterfinals. And it was no fluke.

While countries like Kenya have struggled with violence during elections, Ghana has had relatively peaceful national elections – with transfers of power – since the 90s. Yesterday, Ghana was the first African team to make it to two straight rounds of 16 in World Cup history. And they are not two-hit wonders: their under-20 team won the World Championship last year, signaling that Ghana is here to stay.

I thought about last year when I was in Ghana and President Obama visited the country. The entire capital city of Accra shut down for the 21 hours that he was there. Describing the terrible traffic during the day, one Ghanaian called it “Obama Traffic.” Hawkers yelled, “Obama biscuits. Come buy Obama biscuits.”

Most Ghanaians were thrilled that Obama chose their country as the site of his first sub-Saharan African visit as President. They designed kenti cloths with his face on it, political parties printed thousands of shirts with his picture emblazoned across the front, and hundreds of animated supporters greeted him at the airport. “Akwaaba (welcome) Barack Obama and Family” billboards spread the whole country, and the tro tro talk of the day was about why Obama chose Ghana. Ghanaians were surely proud of their democracy.

While Ghanaians remain in awe of America’s President, they were hardly in awe of the Americans on the soccer pitch. If anything, the Ghanaians were the more skillful team. Nothing like football to level the playing field.

France and Italy didn’t even make it out of the first round. South Korea faltered. South America looks as dangerous as ever.

Nobody even cares about today’s England-Germany match.

While Ghana shines on.