Relaxed Black Stars on song ahead of Uruguay showdown
Watching Ghana prepare for a quarter-final against Uruguay on Friday – only the third African side to reach the last eight after Cameroon in 1990 and Senegal in 2002 – couldn’t be a more different experience to following England just 30 minutes up the road in the days before Fabio Capello’s side were sent home by Germany.
A solitary security guard at the end of a dirt track was the only welcoming party as journalists and one or two fans watched the team train for two hours.
No road blocks, bag searches or forms to sign as at the Royal Bafokeng Palace where England stayed in five-star luxury; and no being herded away after 15 minutes of watching the players warm-up.
Ghana’s football president, dressed in team tracksuit, chatted amiably with reporters as the players laughed and joked their way through the evening, seemingly without a care in the world.
Even top scorer Asamoah Gyan, who missed the session with an ankle problem that is unlikely to keep him out of the big game, put on headphones to jig his way through a stretching routine.
When he was finished he joined the rest of his team-mates to carry the goal posts off the training pitch and clear the cones – before the squad ambled over to talk unrestricted to reporters.
What a contrast to the high-pressure, high security media bubble that surrounds the likes of England and France, who are both long gone. But maybe that is a lesson the so-called bigger countries could learn from.
The sound of singing could be heard from the Ghana dressing room as the players eventually left the field and you get the impression they are determined to enjoy this World Cup.
Gyan, who has three goals in four games, said: “We play with a smile on our face. I always say football is not a fight, football is fun. Ok, there is passion but we don’t need to fight. We just play with happiness. If you have fear or problems it’s very difficult to play.
“The secret of Ghana is we know how to psyche ourselves for the game. Sometimes we sing all the time and just forget about the game and make sure we concentrate on ourselves because we know what we can do on the field. And on top of that we are united, we work for each other.”
Whether Ghana, who lost the African Nations Cup Final to Egypt earlier this year, can make history by reaching the World Cup semi-finals remains to be seen but given they are the only African side left in the tournament you would have thought by now the pressure would be starting to tell.
“That’s not the case,” insisted BBC’s Africa football correspondent Ibrahima Sannie, who first spotted Gyan as a 15-year-old and predicted he would become a world star.
“Having spoken to many of the players they understand here is pressure but also understand if they let the pressure get to them it might have an negative effect. They are not thinking about it at all; they know Africa is truly behind them and that is a boost.
“They want to show African football is strong because so many other teams made mistakes. The Ivory Coast and Nigeria took the bad decision of employing new coaches just our weeks before the tournament and Cameroon imploded because of a split in the camp. But the World Cup has been so good for Africa and now I think everyone is behind Ghana. They have already done the continent proud.”
The big question now is whether Ghana can sing and dance their way into a semi-final against either Brazil or Holland, but Gyan remains, as you would expect, upbeat.
“We have to go there and play our hearts out,” he said. “Before the tournament we were underdogs so we have nothing to lose.
“I won’t predict the result, but I believe in my boys. As a Ghanaian I believe in the Black Stars team on the field. We will just go there united, play our hearts out, work hard and we will win the game. That’s all.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
