Today’s agenda included attending the Ghana—Mozambique Africa Cup of Nations qualifing match in Accra. We were terribly excited for the match, and several of us wore our Black Stars jerseys. But we almost didn’t make it.
The original plan was for Bart (owner of the Action Boys Soccer Club of the Creating Opportunities Foundation) to purchase tickets a few days in advance. And, for the last three days, a guy from the club went to the Accra Sports Stadium (unfortunate acronym) for that purpose. Not so fast! Tickets were sold only the day of the match (today). The guy who waited in line today didn’t receive the phone money from Bart, so he couldn’t purchase the tickets for us. We would have to do it ourselves. Bart’s tro-tro was supposed to pick us at 1 PM at the International Student Hostel (ISH2), but it was 40 minutes late. We waited patiently. Once on the road, it was a race against time. About 45 minutes before kickoff, Tracy rushed to the ticket window with a wad of cash to procure twenty-five 30-cedi tickets, after which she called me and said “I got the tickets! I got the tickets!” We needen’t have worried so much—the stadium was only about one-third full due to the workday afternoon.
After we settled into our seats, we absorbed the sights and sounds. Of course, there was drumming and horn blowing from the supporters in the opposite stand. (We were thankful to be seated opposite them in the western stand.) There were guys painted in the colors of the flag. Catherine drew Black Stars on Kallie and Brooke’s faces. There were introductions and national anthems (which both Mark and Catherine sang).
Then the game began.
Ghana scored in the fifth minute and led 1–0 at the half. (I got a nice photo of a first-half free kick.) Ghana’s second goal was preceded by a questionable no-call hand ball, but their third was a sweet 15-yard chip over the helpless Mozambique keeper. Leading 3-0 with about half of the final 45 minutes remaining, the game slowed down considerably with neither side expressing urgency. Then, late in the match, Mozambique pulled one back in front of us with a right-flank attack and precise header.
We gathered back at the Action Boys bus for a hot, bone-crunching, hour-and-a-half ride home through horrendous traffic.
In the end, the game wasn’t particularly scintillating, but it was fun nonetheless. The important thing was sharing a cultural event with a few thousand other passionate fans. It will be exciting to watch the return leg Sunday in Maputo and to track Ghana’s progress through the qualifying round.
Many thanks to Bernard (the driver), Coach, and Koller (who waited in line for tickets) from Action Boys for their assistance today. We couldn’t have done it without them!
—Matt
