Johannesburg, June 29 (IANS) The vuvuzelas meant for Bafana Bafana, as the South African team is known, will now be blowing for Ghana, the only African team to make it to the quarter-finals of World Cup football.
Ghana are the only among the six African nations to move beyond the group stage. They qualified for the quarter-finals with a 2-1 win over the US.
The streets of Johannesburg and the nearby capital city of Pretoria are witnessing wild celebrations as Africans have identified themselves with the success of Ghana.
After the early exit of the home team, the locals are now waving the Ghanian flag.
A stroll down the Nigerian dominated suburbs of Yeoville shows how South Africans are rooting for Ghana. From Ghanian flags to jerseys and headgears, everything is selling like hotcakes.
Business has not dropped despite the other African teams doing poorly.
‘My friend…the whole of Africa is cheering for Ghana..Good time for business. Despite the loss of other African teams, my business is going good and now there is a huge demand for Ghanian jerseys and flags,’ Prince, a street vendor, told IANS.
The local support for Ghana is overwhelming.
Samuels, a local fan, told IANS: ‘It doesn’t matter if South Africa is out of the World Cup. The whole country and Africa will be cheering for Ghana.’
The west African country also has a surprise fan in former South African president Thabo Mbeki. Mbeki has backed the Black Stars to continue leading Africa at the World Cup and make the continent proud.
In a message sent to the president of the Ghana Football Association, Mbeki said: ‘I wish to convey my heartfelt congratulations to you, the Ghana Football Association and the Ghana Black Stars national team for its outstanding success in advancing to the next round of the World Cup.
‘It is clear that the Black Stars will now have to discharge the highly honourable and well deserved responsibility to represent Africa and the African diaspora in the next stages of the World Cup.
‘The Black Stars will remain true to the role that Ghana has played as an eminent leader of the peoples of Africa and the African diaspora as they have worked to resolve the challenges we have had to confront.’
Ghana’s Serbian coach Milovan Rajevac knows that crowd support will be crucial for his team when they face two-time world champions Uruguay in the quarterfinal in Johannesburg here Friday.
‘I’m very emotional and I hope we can benefit from the support of all the South African people and the continent of Africa,’ said Rajevac.
(Abhishek Roy can be contacted at abhishek.roy@ians.in)
