Landon Donovan’s extra time goal drove the United States into the next round in the most dramatic way possible. At the Fanzone in Durban the response among the Americans and their other supporters (the locals seemed fairly split between the US and Algeria — not surprising, all things considered) exploded with joy and the sort of overwrought celebration that one expects from Americans.
Ghana, meanwhile, earned their trip to the round of 16 in just about the most precarious way imaginable, losing to Germany 1-0 but slipping to the knockout round when Australia couldn’t overcome goal differential accrued in their 4-0 pasting at the hands of Germany in their opening game. Ghana acquitted themselves well, but the Germans are, well, the Germans.
So this sets up my nightmare scenario: The US against an African team. Worse yet, barring Cote d’Ivoire doing something truly spectacular against North Korea at the game I’ll be attending in Nelspruit, Ghana is the only African team moving forward. So my loyalties are divided. I am, of course, American and unashamedly so. But I also am a strong advocate of Africa, my work is directly connected to Africa, I am here to write largely about Africa, this is Africa’s World Cup, and a victory for Ghana will probably mean a whole lot more to a whole lot more people than it will to the United States.
Whichever wins will be the team I support going forward, so I suppose it’s a nice dilemma to have. And there always is the hope that Cote d’Ivoire will hang six on North Korea while Brazil defeats Portugal by a goal or two. Still, this is the matchup I did not want to see, even if I am thrilled for both the Ghana and US squads and their fans.
