We wuz robbed! - heraldblog

We wuz robbed!

I am the only person on my block to have cheered on the Ghanain soccer team through its Cinderella performance in the World Cup. I can't help myself. I visited Ghana as a college student, spending a summer as a volunteer building a school in a remote village. The country was suffering from a tin pot dictator at the time, a bloody, cowardly general who executed political opponents, and then displayed their bloody corpses on the front page of the government run tabloid, under the banner headline "TRAITORS!". Hunger and poverty were everywhere, and everything was in shortage. I remember waiting to borrow one of three shovels available to 40 volunteers, to dig a foundation for the school, which, as far as I know, may still be under construction.

Since it was strongly advised not to talk politics with Ghanains, we spent our time getting our butts handed to us while playing soccer. All Ghanains played soccer. Legless beggars bounce soccer balls of their stumps, I am sure, to the amazement of white tourists. It's in their blood. Ghanains are also friendly to a fault, generous, and warm. If you burned down a Ghanain's house, he would apologize for not living closer to the fire department.

But all that politesse goes out the window when the topic is soccer:
Sheer Robbery at World Cup

Ghana, the only African representative left at the World Cup has been painfully eliminated from the event. The Black Stars were robbed of what started as a good game for Ghana and continued to be except for lack of goals.

The world cup has been plagued by bad officiating and over-flowing cards from referees. Today was no exception to what looks like a planned strategy to kick out the underdogs at the world cup.

27.6.06 21:53

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To date 7 Comment(s) TrackBack-URL

KateEvans / Website (27.6.06 23:56)
I too was cheering Ghana on - what a sad day. But that article is right about too many cards, and some bad refereeing. A smile from one official the other day as he sent a player off really darkened my heart.

john / Website (28.6.06 00:35)
Well, they're the youngest team in the WC, so hopefully they'll go farther next time.

menace / Website (28.6.06 03:42)
Re: the pic. Which one is you?

Heraldblog / Website (28.6.06 15:06)
You can see the picture? All I can see is a URL address. What's up with 20six? Arrrgghhh!

menace / Website (28.6.06 15:08)
No, I only get the URL too. I pasted it into my browser.

Heraldblog / Website (28.6.06 15:47)
OK, thanks.

Oh, I'm the white guy.

KateEvans / Website (29.6.06 19:06)
Speaking of bad refs:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2006/5130166.stm