The pride of a continent… The happiness of a bunch of people. Some saw this as the best opportunity an African team would ever get towards lifting the coveted World cup trophy..Before the World cup, the tip of most pundits was the Ivory Coast. However, they were unlucky to find themselves in the “Group of death” with Dunga’s Brazil, Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal and the minnows from North Korea. As it became clear that the majority of African teams would find themselves making the relatively short journeys home, the Ghanians stood out. They captured the hearts of all (excluding me) with their pretty, well worked football whilst Kevin Prince Boateng secured the support of the womenfolk with his goodlooks and Ronaldoesque style of football.

In the group stages, there was an element of luck for the Black Stars as they got two penalties in their first two games. However, that is not to take any merit from their achievement as they clearly deserved no better. In their second round game against the Americans, they controlled the game in the initial stages, lost control and regained it in the latter stages. Their position and bid to make history was secured by an Extra time Gyan Asamoah goal.

Up next; a date with Uruguay. The game started well with Ghana going in front through Sulley Muntari. Diego Forlan equalised for Uruguay in the second half through a freekick. Although the game was largely balanced, Ghana proved that their coming thus far was no fluke. They threatened the Uruguayans but lacked the cutting edge to end the game. The one thing the game lacked was a moment of kaitastrophic magnitude and this was to come in the last minute of the 2nd half of extra time. Luis Suarez deliberately handled a Ghanian goal attempt which resulted in his sending off and a Ghanian penalty. All Gyan Asamoah, the talismanic figure for the Black Stars had to do was hit the ball and make sure it avoided the goalkeeper on its way to the back of the net. Remember he had already done it twice in the Group stages so it was a relatively simple task. Well, the fairytale was not to be. The ball avoided the keeper but was unable to avoid the crossbar. He missed it.

Up next, the. X and O like game called penalty shootout. Gyan made up for the previous miss by blasting the ball into the top corner. Diego Forlan returned the favour by ensuring the ball found the back of the net. To the chagrin of Africans and fairy tale lovers, Ghana was to miss two penalties with Captain John Mensah and youngstar Dominic Adyah being the culprits. Abreu was able to hold his nerve and slot the ball home… And with that, all dreams/delusions of Ghana going where no other team had gone ended. However, the Ghanians go home with the knowledge that they gave a good account of themselves, albeit without their best player Chelsea’s Michael Essien.