Tribute to Ghana Black Stars

World Cup 2010 Comment: Don’t cry for Ghana
There are reasons for comfort...
By Kingsley Kobo

We saw tears and felt pain last night when the only surviving African team at the World Cup, was eliminated by Uruguay at Soccer City Stadium.

Many reasons to lament, many reasons to curse.

If Ghana had been defeated during the 90 minutes of play, or even during extra time we could easily call Uruguay the stronger side. But as it happened, we can’t say that they out-played the Africans and so deserved the victory; or that Ghana played badly and deserved to be beaten.

No! The Black Stars shined, staging a worthwhile battle against the South Americans.

Uruguay got underway with a robust intensity hoping to intimidate the Blacks Stars early in order to cut into their throat and leave them gasping in despair – like Brazil did to Chile in their 3-0 win in the second round – but Ghana withstood, dragging along the Charruas until their superiority complex was gradually replaced by ambiguity.

When Inter’s Sulley Muntari fired home a shot, which left Nestor Muslera stretching to no avail, Uruguay knew they were in trouble. Even when star striker Diego Forlan evened the score with a free-kick early in the second half, Ghana didn’t cower.

We were beginning to envisage a long night with fear and hope warring in our souls. Forlan and Luis Suarez, whom many tipped could change the destiny of the evening, remained constantly dampened by Ghana’s tactics and cohesive production.

During extra-time, we saw a more combative Ghana, menacing Uruguay’s defence in search of a goal to seal victory, but at the height of their arduous effort, Suarez’s unprofessional hand ball robbed the Africans of a winning goal.


Don’t blame Asamoah Gyan for wasting a golden opportunity of breaking the jinx that has always limited African teams at the quarter-finals, but salute the effort of these youngsters who came from nowhere to reach this stage of the competition. Everybody can miss a penalty, after all, hitting the crossbar showed how well he had aimed his shot.


Using hands to parry a goal-bound ball showed how reduced and feeble Uruguay had been during the dying minutes of the game. Ghana had pushed and pressed them to an extent that they had to apply an unconventional means of defending and fending off danger. And to demonstrate how badly they needed the save, Luis Suarez was lifted shoulder high by his mates as the hero of the evening during their bliss celebration after the game.

I am not here to blame Suarez, he and his team got their lot – a red card, a penalty and a possible two-game suspension – what I’m trying to point out is that Ghana deserve kudos for rocking the two-time world champions Uruguay down to their knees.


When a boxer reaches for a knife to fight instead of his fists, it’s a sign that he has been over-powered by his opponent. Ghana won somehow last night.

End Note- I love this picture- here are some boys playing football (soccer), this is the true spirit of African football, it is our game.

World Cup

South Africa here we come! I have to admit before I came to Africa I did not know about nor care about soccer, or more rightly named football. Since coming I have learned to play, and at times watch. When a missionary is seeking to connect with his people he does so by find things that they are interested in and trying to enjoy them.

Most missionaries around the world will tell you that football (soccer) is the passion of most nations. Though most Americans do not even now that it is happening, the rest of the world will be tuned into South Africa as they watch teams from around the world perform in this years world cup.

Lucky for us Ghana's games are not on TV the times of our services. So we will all be watching. GO BLACK STARS!

Ghana Makes History Again!

Friday, the 16th of October, Ghana made history once again. Our under 20 year old team, called the Black Satellites won the U20 World Cup.

They had already made history, when they passed from the Semi-Finals, to the Finals. No other African team, in any football (soccer) World Cup tournament has every made it to the finals. But, it was not enough for the young team. They wanted to win the cup!

This sounds easy for a team with that much spirit and courage, but they where going to face the Giants of Football, BRAZIL! No one outside of Ghana thought that they could do it. Brazil has a long history of victories, winning more Championships in each age group then any other country. Not to mention that a South American country has won ever last U20 World Cups in the last 12 contests.

It seemed that the football world's opinion was going to come true as the match began. Ghana, did not use it normal tactic of speed and attack, they seemed very nervous. Then about the 15:00 minute mark, they started to come alive, attacking the goal, and braking the Brazilian defenses.

Then the unthinkable happened. There was a poor executed pass my a Ghanaian midfielder, and the main Brazilian striker snatched it up. He was running full tilt down the field with one defensive man and the goalie in front of him. It looked like he might have a chance for a shoot on goal, then Ghana's main defense men came from behind with a delayed slide tackle.

Out came the RED CARD! Though, in my humble opinion, it was a harsh call, and denied the rules, since their was a defensive man in the back field, Ghana was still removed of a player. They where at the 20:00 minute mark, and would have to play the rest of the game 11 to 12!

It seemed impossible, but some how David defeated Goliath! The 11 men played for the full 90:00 minutes, and did not conceded a single goal. Though the goalie (keeper) had his work cut out, still Ghana managed to make a few shoots on goal themselves.

The 90:00 minutes finished, and they moved into extra time. Two 15:00 minute period passed, and still the score was Zero to Zero. It was coming down to penalties. The U20 World Cup, would come down to a shoot out. It clearly looked as if Brazil would win, since African teams are not known for their prowess in penalty shoots.

The first set of five came and went, and through the hard work of the Ghanaian keeper, the score was tied Three to Three. Then Brazil's main player and striker moved up to the line. With every eye of the world watching (outside America), everyone held their breath, as he pulled back and shoot, and.... MISSED! He did not get the goal!

Here was Ghana's chance, sudden death. If Ghana made this goal, they would go down in history as the first African team to WIN an International Title. The player stood up to the ball, aimed, and fired. It was a goooooooaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The ball totally deceived the keeper and the Ghanaian bench flooded the field. They had won!


The Brazilians fell on their faces in disbelief and agony! Ghana had won, and the stands exploded in cheers, and African drum beating!

Here in Ghana, the sounds began to rise! Millions of voices screaming in excitement. taxi, tro-tro, and bus horns added to the celebration! Children, women, men began to run up and down the empty streets at 9:00 pm to celebrate! All people cheered, 'broni' hugging 'biboni', American yelling with African, all enjoying the moment!

Since I have been a missionary, I have seen the world changing. Living in Ghana, we have been blessed to be apart of many positive changes. I am just thankful again to God, that I have been able to see another turning point in history.

Feeding Monkeys and Other Miscellaneous Fun Stuff!

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to visit the Kumasi Zoo. It was a great time together as a family. They have borught all the animals from the Accra Zoo, while it is under renovation. The zoo wsa not crowded, and the best part was that you could very close to the animals. For example the crocodilla pit was open, if a person wanted to they could climb right inside. THe monkey cages where open and a visitor could buy bananas to feed them. The girls loved throwing bananas to them and watching them do tricks.

Dad and the Girls outside the Zoo

One of the Monkeys enjoying some food we gave him!

Tick-tock, tick-tock, Captain Hook would not like this guy!

Patty with the girls.

The girls really liked this guy. He is the oldest male that the zoo has. He did not want to do any tricks, but he was quite friendly. His mate, an old female monkey, was quite funny. After we handed her a banana she acted just like kids in the States do. She peeled it, removed all the treads, cut off the ends, and then picked out the black spots. No kidding! She most get a lot of them to be so picky.

That day we also went to a fun restaurant. The restaurant is a food court style place and it is the only one that we have in our city of about three million people. It has a ice cream stand, pizza place, burger and chicken place, and a place that roasts chicken. But the thing that our kids love the most is that it has a small playground. It is like a mini-version of something someone would see in a McDonald's in the United States.

Ella drinking some Moroccan Coke

This is Patty's favorite meal at 'On the Run'. It is seamed rice with roasted chicken strips. The small plastic cup is filled with what everyone here puts on rice, it name is 'shito'.

About two weeks ago we had a work day at the school building that we use for Bible studies. The kids are on break, so it is a good time to gets things done. While at the school, one of our neighborhood kids caught this baby chicken. Its mother was not to happy, but the kids had a great time looking at it!

Ella, "The bebi ticken, picked mee!"

And finally, every three weeks we have a time to play football 'soccer' with our teenage guys. It is a good time for our teen guys to get their energy out, and for our girls to mix with community kids and learn Twi.

Ella loves close-ups!



Carey always likes to teach the kids new games. Ring-around-the-rosy it a new favorite in our community now. It is nice to she hear learning to community. It take a lot of patience and effort for her to get her ideas across. Most kids her to not understand English at all, and Carey only knows a little bite of Twi at this time. So it is a great learning time!