Skip to main content
Just Imagine

A football tournament like no other

  • Story Highlights
  • CNN Producer Jonathan Wald visited Ghana during the African Cup of Nations
  • The west African country was brought to a standstill by the football tournament
  • Ghana's "Black Stars" eventually eliminated by Cameroon in the semifinals
  • Next Article in World Sport »
By CNN Producer Jonathan Wald
Decrease font Decrease font
Enlarge font Enlarge font

(CNN) -- I've always wanted to go on a thematic holiday. That is a trip to a country with a theme uniting everything you do and all the people you meet.

The floodlights illuminate Accra's Ohene Djan Stadium during Ghana's clash with Morocco.

The country was Ghana. The theme -- the African Cup of Nations football tournament and it hit me the moment I stepped off the plane in Accra.

The Nigerian football team was stepping off the plane next to mine, which explained the howls of anticipation from hundreds of Nigerian football fans camped out on the other side of the airport.

With his sideways baseball cap barely resting on his head, Nwankwo Kanu looked more like a rapper than the Super Eagles' captain. "We are a good team, with a good chance," he assured me as he waited to go through immigration.

After wading through a sea of unofficial tournament merchandise, offered to me at five-meter intervals, I had a chance to see for myself whether Kanu was right at the first game in Sekondi. Ivory Coast against Nigeria was billed by the Ghanaian media as "the final before the final."

It was a cagey match, in which defenders from both teams barely ventured into each other's half. A moment of brilliance from Salomon Kalou settled the game for the Ivorians and left Kanu's prediction looking uncertain.

The game felt familiar, perhaps because over half the players on the pitch play their club football in the English Premiership. But everything that went on around it was unlike anything I had ever experienced.

The stadium had a capacity of around 20,000 -- far fewer than the crowds I'm used to in England. Yet the Sekondi faithful made a mockery of their numbers, using plastic horns and brass bands to produce a relentless wall of noise throughout the match.

One man plastered in the green, white and orange of the Ivorian flag ran laps carrying a shield and burning torch until police caught up with him and confiscated his firebrand, enforcing a strict no smoking policy. Supporters of each team sat together, the Ivorians gloating in victory and still the crowd never looked like resorting to violence.

The spirit on and off the field throughout the tournament was faultless. The logistics surrounding the games proved more challenging. All hotels were full in Sekondi and it was only through the generosity of a plumber called Ato that I found a floor to sleep on.

Ticketing for the tournament was a shambles. Every official avenue I pursued informed me there were no tickets available. Despite this, there have been large swathes of empty seats at almost every game in the tournament.

Don't Miss

Black market and counterfeit sales were rife. I was offered a ticket for sixteen times its face value (most tickets cost about $5) and saw several people arrested for selling fake tickets.

Travelling around Ghana was an unpredictable business. I relied on the network of minibuses known as tro-tros to get around. Yet because they don't leave until every seat is full, often you can spend more time sitting in the stationary vehicle waiting for other passengers than the journey itself.

It was only thanks to a tro-tro driver who apparently had no concern for either his own life or his passengers' that I arrived in Kumasi on time for the match between Cameroon and the defending champions, Egypt. And it was only thanks to the ingenuity of Ato's friend, Obaa Yaa, that we secured tickets to the game after she persuaded members of the Cameroon team's entourage to sell them to her.

The game was an assault on the senses. Sitting directly beneath a line of trumpeters from Cameroon left me hard of hearing. Watching Cameroon self-destruct after going 1-0 down to a penalty was bewildering and the Egyptians' efficiency in counter-attacking was dazzling.

Even losing 4-2, the scoreline flattered Cameroon and especially their talismanic forward, Samuel Eto'o, who managed to simultaneously score twice and remain anonymous for most of the game.

Nevertheless the spirit of Cameroon's fans remained undimmed. The trumpets played on into the night and one fan called the game a good omen. "About 20 years ago," he told me, "Cameroon lost their first game to Egypt and went on to win the cup -- it's going to happen again."

I finally succumbed to the umpteenth offer of merchandise and bought a Ghanaian wrist band. It was one of the best investments I've made. From the streets of Accra to the remote highlands of the Volta region, I was met with a cheer of "Black Stars!" (the nickname for Ghana's team) every time I raised my arm.

It was fitting that the last game I went to was Ghana against Morocco. The stadium was awash in the red, yellow, and green of Ghana's flag. It sounded as if every one of the 40,000 in the stadium had their own trumpet. Blocks of fans competed with one another to make the most noise and string together the finest, synchronised dance moves. Some were so busy conducting the fans, they barely watched the game.

Then Ghana scored. A few fans break-danced down the aisles, hundreds more in full body paint flocked pitch-side to stage an impromptu carnival and as the party spilled into the street, with no sign of abating, I slipped away back to the UK.

Since then I have admired the tournament from afar, still sporting the Black Stars wrist band and with my hearing restored.

advertisement

Kanu's prediction was left in tatters after Ghana's 10 men eliminated Nigeria in the quarterfinals. The semifinals saw the much-fancied Ivory Coast fall to the ruthless Egyptians and the beloved Black Stars outshone by Cameroon's Indomitable Lions.

All of which leaves us close to where we began -- Cameroon versus Egypt in the final. Egypt, refusing to loosen their grip on the cup; Cameroon, determined to make amends for their calamitous opening match -- and at least one Cameroonian fan looking for a repeat of history from about 20 years ago. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

  • E-mail
  • Save
  • Print