Tying Africa's failure as a continent to Gyan's missed penalty kick.

[Libaax-Sankataabte]

I thought this was an interesting analysis.

 

 

Ghana’s missed penalty and Africa’s date with failure

By Nicholas Sengoba

 

It is a game I was watching as an African would do after seeing the catastrophe that had become of all the other five African sides; South Africa, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Algeria and Nigeria at the first every FIFA World Cup final on African soil.

 

All but Ghana had miserably fallen out in the group stages after putting in performances that were lacklustre, with a few flashes in the pan that were not enough to put a shine on the overall picture. Meaning, I was hoping for the best but seriously expecting the worst at the same time; the same way one feels when they encounter an accident waiting to happen.

 

Ghana, Africa’s last team standing, played like men possessed and put in a great quarter final display that made Uruguay look ordinary and beatable. They were deservingly rewarded (or so we thought) with a penalty in the last minute of extra time after a desperate hand ball right on the goal line by Uruguay’s Luis Suarez. We held our breath…and Asamoah Gyan struck the resultant penalty against the wood work and with that went the spirit. The body language of the Ghanaians from that moment on was of men who had no more fight left in their stomachs.

 

Ghana went on to lose in the subsequent penalty shoot out. And so the ‘African World Cup’ was left in the hands of three European nations and one from South America.

 

In that brief drama filled moment I saw a great comment on Africa. Many times in our history, when opportunities have sprung up to move us to the next level of achievement, it was our revered heroes, the ones on whom we put our hopes, who are full of promise; that that turn out to be the authors of the saddest stories at a time when we need them most.

 

The luckless Asamoah Gyan had been a star on the rise, a messiah with vision meant to lead Africa to at least their first ever semi final and maybe final at a FIFA World cup final. Then the penalty came up to this man who had already scored two in the tournament. In what looked like a nightmare he missed and so ended the African dream in the 2010 World Cup on African soil.

 

He firmly follows in the foot steps of all those great men the Kwame Nkurumahs, Kenyattas, Kaundas and Obotes; the beholders of our dreams at independence. The chance fell at their feet to show to the world that Africans or indeed Black people were capable of governing themselves. By the 1980s after 30 years of self rule, the continent was instead a laughing stock bedevilled by corruption, tribalism, debt, hunger, disease, wars, coups, genocide and all manner of disaster.

 

Then prospect for a fresh start struck again with the so called wind of change in the 1990s. A new breed of leaders, the Musevenis of Uganda, Kagames of Rwanda, Isias Afwerkis of Eritirea etc where seen as the replicas of the biblical Moses who would mould a more democratic Africa and deliver it to the 21st century.

 

And see where they have brought us. We are still going hungry amidst plenty of fertile soils. We live in debt, our creditors being our former colonial masters. People all over the continent are killing each other on account of ethnicity. We still can’t choose our leaders and build good roads. This opportunity is all but lost and Africa needs a fresh start, another opportunity, another game, another penalty. That one we might have and still loose going by our history.

 

As Aristotle put it “we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit.” By extension, failure and mediocrity are bad habits we practice repeatedly and accept to live with. Africa has become accustomed to failing without. That is why we find ourselves missing opportunity after opportunity and learning. We put in the bare minimum knowing there will be another time. So we now wait for the 2014 World Cup final in Brazil.

 

Mr Sengoba is a commentator on political and social issues

nicholassengoba@yahoo.com

 

http://www.monitor.co.ug

[NGONGE]

I am glad you used the word ‘interesting’ rather than ‘good’, LST. It is interestingly MENTAL.

The man is equating a penalty kick to the struggles of liberation, dictatorships and even poverty! It’s mad.

 

Now I am not saying that there is no political mileage in football, of course there is and Jacob Zuma is milking it to his heart’s content. In Germany, Angela Merkel has been in trouble (politically) for the past few weeks. So what does she do? She leaves the troubles at home and travels to South Africa to watch the German team trash Argentina. She soaks the reflected glory of that win and, as a result, improves her approval ratings amongst Germans (pictures of her shaking a triumphant fist have become synonymous with German victories, even though it is only football).

 

On the other hand, the Italians and French were both sent home in utter humiliation. The French, for their part, have involved parliament, the president and most sections of society in dissecting this humiliation and arriving at reasons as to why it happened. Not one person has suggested a new French revolution or harked to the cake offers of Madame Antoinette. Not one person has genuinely spoken of the return of the guillotine or the beheading of the players (at least not literally).

 

In Italy, though questions have been raised about the defeat of their team nobody started engaging in any form of naval gazing or called for the players to be thrown into the Tarpeian Rock! There was no mention of Caesar, Marius, Sulla or even Mussolini. Nobody spoke about any inherent defects in the Italian character.

 

Only in England, where the team has also been disappointing, have they touched upon the faults in the English character. However, the accusations did not extend to the entire English nation but was rather centered on the character of rich, spoilt and uncaring footballers. There wasn’t even a mention of the spirit of Dunkirk, the British Empire, the home of football or that crazy Norwegian commentator (your boys took one hell of a beating, etc).

 

So why is this African nutcase talking of Ghana’s defeat (on penalties and when they dominated the game) as if it is the end of the world or a reflection of the African character? How can he fail to spot the clear positives here?

 

This is not Hollywood. The South African team qualified as a result of being the host nation and not because they had a great team (in fact, I think they were the lowest ranked team in that tournament) yet, they did very well and were a whisker away from making it to the knockout stages. Algeria played well against England, the USA and Slovenia (having twice conceded critical goals in the dying seconds). One could positively argue that they matched their group stride for stride. Cameroon was a disappointment but, if we embrace the inferiority complex of this author, we could easily argue that Cameroon is not as developed (a nation) as Japan, Denmark or Holland. The Ivory Coast was in a very difficult group and didn’t make it to the knockout stages because the North Koreans decided to totally capitulate against Portugal (something they refused to do against the Ivory Coast). This brings us to the unlucky Nigerians. They lost to Argentina by one goal (a header from Heinze!). They lost to Greece as a result of a harsh sending off and but for that they should have easily won that game. They then struggled to beat South Korea though they dominated the game and fully deserved to go through (they missed some glorious chances in that game).

 

This finally brings me to Ghana. The team that according to this writer was carrying the hopes and aspirations of all of Africa and let the entire continent down! Well, before talking about their games, one really needs to understand what this author wants? Did he really expect them to win the world cup? Does he first know how many countries won the world cup? You probably can count them on the fingers of one hand, yet this mad man expects an African team to come along and easily win it just because the tournament is held on African soil? Could it be possible that he (along with any that agree with him) have set his expectations a tad too high?

 

Ghana played really well for the whole tournament. They did as well as they did in the last world cup and reached the last eight. They beat Serbia, gave Germany a very hard time and knocked out the USA for the second tournament in a row. Asamoah Gyn scored two penalties along the way and only missed the most important one in the last minute of the game against Uruguay. Yet, three minutes after that, he displayed great strength of character, resolve and single-mindedness in stepping up and taking the first spot kick for this country in the penalty shootout.

 

There were no conquistadors, siege of Montevideo, Mugabe, Mandela, Nyerere or the half dozen others that the author mentions. This was a game of football with twenty two players. The author should keep this in mind so that the next time an African team loses in a major tournament; he can longingly hark back to the golden time of Gyan, Mensah, Annan, Boatang and others rather than the crazy notion of comparing football players to politics and matters of life and death. It’s only a game of football, you unpredictable Jabulani.

[BOB]

Then prospect for a fresh start struck again with the so called wind of change in the 1990s. A new breed of leaders, the Musevenis of Uganda, Kagames of Rwanda, Isias Afwerkis of Eritirea etc where seen as the replicas of the biblical Moses who would mould a more democratic Africa and deliver it to the 21st century.

These three he hails as Africa's new heroes are the architects of mass murders and destructions...he should do Africa a favour and shut it.

 

 

PS. Kenneth Kaunda was another criminal who stole millions from Zambia...ninkani knows nothing about Africa and African 'Politicians'.

 

 

Peace, Love & Unity.

[N.O.R.F]

Mr Sengoba is a commentator on political and social issues

Dadkan waalan xagaa laga keenay?

[NGONGE]

^^ Uganda by the look of his e-mail address (or, it's just A&T using a pen name).

[BOB]

^^^ @ NGONGE.

 

 

Naga daa dee niyahow.

 

 

Peace, Love & Unity.

[Libaax-Sankataabte]

Originally posted by NGONGE:

This mad man expects an African team to come along and easily win it just because the tournament is held on African soil?

Hehehehe. Nin waalan. I don't know which is more "interesting", NGONGE's low expectation of Africans or Mr. Sengoba's calaacal and frustration with Africans not "seizing the moment" when it matters the most (Gyan's kick in the dying seconds of the game. A kick that would set a new record for Africa had he scored).

 

I think Mr. Sengoba (AT&T) would have been perfectly happy had Ghana taken its magic to the "next level" (semis). It would have been a welcomed progress.

 

"Many times in our history, when opportunities have sprung up to move us to the

next level of achievement

, it was our revered heroes, the ones on whom we put our hopes, who are full of promise; that turn out to be the authors of the saddest stories at a time when we need them most."

(Read: semi-final spot).

 

 

As Aristotle put it “we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit.” By extension,

failure and mediocrity

are bad habits we practice

repeatedly

and accept to live with.

(Read: Senegal(2002), and now Ghana. Same results and lack of progress to the next level. Same crowd chanting "Africa did well" again )