Still Rolling Along! The Ghana Summary.

From Kumasi, it is about seven hours by road to Tamale (and that is if you are lucky). One of our first ports of call was the bus station, where we were informed that the next day’s bus was already fully booked. The obvious course was to find a hotel and chance our luck on a tro-tro early in the morning – but we decided it may be better to chance our luck without the hotel, and start overnight.

So immediately after the Zambia-Sudan game, pausing only to get my computer connected to the internet and send in my last report, I met with the others and we found taxis, asking for the tro-tro station for buses to Tamale. We thought we were heading to a newly renovated station mentioned in the guide book, but instead we were ferried to rough car back not far from the stadium. Here a rickety minibus was pointed out, and tickets were bought for the long trip ahead. It was soon after 10 p.m. and we there were only three people on board before our quintet turned up. Three of us elected to take extra seats (in my case with the demand I got to ‘ride shotgun’ next to the driver), so half of the 22 seats had been sold. We waited and occasionally others would turn up – just after midnight, the numbers had increased to 19 – but still the bus would wait. Only when all 22 seats have been sold would it move. Under pressure, the last two of our party agreed to reduce their liability to DVT and buy second seats and then the five of us shared the cost of the final berth, to allow the bus to get away – without us, I imagine it would have been five or six in the morning before it made a move!

The ride to Tamale was not uneventful, although I am glad to say I managed to sleep through most of it. The road itself is generally in a good condition, and from time to time we would pass the wreck of a lorry or car that may have happened six months or six years ago, and just dragged to the side of the road. Then about an hour before the destination, we reached a bus that had gone over on its side. This wreck, sitting in the middle of the road was clearly new, and the vehicle was relatively modern as well. A few people were milling around the wreck, but I think these were unlikely to have been passengers, most of whom must have been transported away in search of medical attention.

We then had to find a hotel, the guide book recommending a couple of hostels to the north of the town centre, we arrived and found them full, but one sent us around to another place, which turned out to involve more than a mile of travel over unlit dirt roads, hardly a place where we could easily return after the game, or find a taxi to take us to the airport at six the following morning, fortunately, our taxi driver then made another suggestion, which was more conveniently within walking distance of the stadium and on a major tarmac covered road. The building was uninviting at the entrance, but for the local equivalent of GBP10, I got myself a room with a fan, a bathroom and cold water supply during the evening and morning.

There was even a plug to use my computer from, so I made to get it out of my bag, only to discover it was not there. I will never find out exactly what happened to it. My intention had been to deposit it within its own bag, and then put that bag inside my suitcase – but I do not have a clear memory beyond folding it closed and waiting for the light to go out, to make sure it had stopped correctly. I may have then put it down and only thought it was in the case, or I may have placed it in the suitcase, in which case someone managed to remove it during the journey.

As the earlier possibility was the most likely, I headed direct to the stadium in search of someone to report the loss to, someone who could call the Kumasi stadium and have a quick check made to see if the PC was still there. It took about an hour to find the phone number of someone to help, he said he would call Kumasi to get a check run on whether my computer was still there – but when I returned to the stadium in the evening, I found out (very slowly) that the person contacted was on the road to Tamale, it took until after the two games before I was given an actual name and number of someone in Kumasi, and this meant no check was made to see if my computer had been left until the next morning. Very annoying, as it seriously reduced the slim chance I had of recovering the machine.

By contrast with the other places we visited, Tamale can be described as the dusty city. With many dirt roads as soon as you reach the edge of town, the rust red dust from these soon gets on all your clothes, and it appeared impossible to remove it completely from any building. Overall, our visits to Ghanaian cities did not produce much in the way of sightseeing, as there are few old buildings in the country, and the most of the oldest are those from British colonial rule. The Gulpke Na palace in Tamale was an exception though – a series of small thatched huts joined together by walls. The fact that this was still being used as living accommodation by local families meant anything more than a cursory tour outside and a couple of photos may have been taken as too much intrusion. It shows the contrast between Ghana and countries where tourism is considered a major source of income, as if there was a regular stream of foreigners, this would have been a good place to fleece them of their money.

To describe the new stadiums of Tamale and Sekondi (which we visited later) separately would be a waste of words, in a unique, buy-one, get-one-free offer from Shanghai Construction, the two stadiums have been build to exactly the same specification. They have a track around the playing field, but the stands are built up so as the lowest seat is about 10 foot higher than the playing surface. This elevation provides much better viewing than those with stands dropping to ground level. A single tier of seats curves all around the stadium, and the whole thing is covered at some height by a roof. The roof is made of the canvas material favoured by the Germans for the last world cup, and is supported by a complex scaffolding of metal tubes. It is one of those that rises above the centre portion of the seating area, but the reason for this is not clear, as the seating does not go any higher of deeper in this area. The roofing did not appear to extend further forward than the front row of seats around the stadium, and with it being raised well above the seating, one imagines that if it was wet and windy, all the spectators on one side might get wet. Meanwhile, starting the match in the heat of late afternoon, the roof provides no shade at all to the Eastern side of the ground.

So starting in the heat of said afternoon, our first game in Tamale saw Tunisia take on Senegal. Tunisia used four players from the local league in their team which included players from the German, Swiss, Russian, French and English Leagues in a 4-3-3 formation, while Senegal were split with five players from each of the Premiership and the French League, with a single representative from the Portuguese League. Issam Jemaa gave Tunisia the lead in the 9th minute, and it the 2002 winners looked the best for most of the first half, but they were surprised when Senegal levelled on the stroke of half time. The second half started with Senegal on top, and Tunisia looking out of the game. Desperation appeared to set in early as the Japanese referee booked Dos Santos for a dive which certainly would not have graced the Olympics. The normally dependable Niang should have put Senegal ahead just before the hour mark, when receiving a cross from Mendy on the left wing. This was the last action before Mendy was replaced by Henri Camara – a good move for the team as he added pace and guile to the forward line, helping cause confusion in the penalty area from which Diomansy Kamara put Senegal ahead. As the game went on though, the pendulum was swinging back to Tunisia – still it took a great long shot from Medji Traoui to level the scores. This was the last goal of a really entertaining game, far better as it turned out than the one that followed between Angola and South Africa. South Africa have failed to impress in recent African Cups, and this was to be no exception – for most of the game they were overshadowed in every department by the Angolan side. Playing up front for Angola was the partnership of Flavio Amado, who plays in Egypt for Al Ahli, and Mateus Alberto of Petro de Luanda in Angola. Flavio looks like a really skilful player, and the way he controlled the ball and set up the goal for Alberto. Alberto on the other hand looked like a real predator. It is common with players in Portuguese speaking countries such as Angola that they can take a name other than their actual name. Mateus Alberto is better known as Manucho and has been signed by Manchester United. South Africa were lucky to come out of the game with a point, when Elrio Van Heerden scored late in the match.

If getting into Tamale involved a long hard ride in a tro-tro from Kumasi, returning from Tamale to Accra involved as much luck as judgement – and no little cash as well. Knowing that our longest trip within Ghana was best done by air, we had researched the flight companies before leaving, and even made a ‘reservation’ on the local companies web page. Although this allows us to print off a reservation – the system leaves payment until you get to Ghana. We had asked, when arriving at Accra about our reservations, and we were told they were OK, but that no one could take out payment at the time (too busy watching the game on TV). In Tamale, though we got a different story. Not only were our reservations imaginary, but the flight was actually four hours earlier than the time we had been given. Fortunately, when our boys got to the office, only 27 of the 34 seats on the flight had been reserved, so we managed to get our quintet on board, for the minor sum of US$150 each.

Of course, this was another day, so it also means another two games. We were back in Accra, and the first of the four groups had to undergo their second games. First up was Guinea against Morocco. Guinea had lost to the hosts in the opening game, while Morocco had thrashed Namibia by 5-1. The star of the show was Pascal Feindouno, as St. Etienne midfielder who has been rumoured to be wanted by Liverpool. His record was to open the scoring in the 11th minute with a splendid curling free kick from the left, and then delivered a perfect through ball for Ismael Bangoura to increase the lead just before the hour. Aboucheroune pulled one back for Morocco almost straight away, but then Guinea won a penalty and Feindouno was again on hand to score. At 3-1, the Guinea skipper must have felt like a break, so he kicked out at a player holding him, and picked up the tournament’s first red card. This did not matter much in terms of the match, with Morocco only pulling the score back to 3-2 in the closing minutes, but the lack of the inspiration he provides to side made them look flat in drawing with Namibia in the final group game, and the suspension means he also misses the first knock out game against the Ivory Coast.

The main game was Ghana against Namibia, with the home fans hopeful of a hat full against a side that did so poorly in their opening game, but it was not to be. The game was nervous and flat, and Namibia were determined to prove that the opener was not their real game. They succeeded in frustrating the home side most of the time, while both in this game and their next group game against Morocco, I felt that while the Ghana midfield, especially Michael Essien and Sully Muntari were excellent, the forward line of Junior Agogo and Udinese’s Asamoah Gyan were not up to the job. As it was though, Agogo scored just before half time to give his side a 1-0 win.

Never people to stand still, the next day we were off to Takoradi. Takoradi is the major part of a two city conurbation, with its partner, Sekondi about 12 km away containing the football stadium. From Accra, the bus service takes you to Takoradi, and it is the easier to get way from, so that is where we went. On arriving, we settled into a small, friendly but rather less than clean hotel in the very centre. This was the most interesting stop of the trip, with a very colourful market immediately outside my window.

Always among the favourites, the Ivory Coast had a 1-0 win over Nigeria in their opening match, and were now up against outsiders Benin. Although Benin put up some good resistance in the first half, they were eventually brushed aside. Didier Drogba rushed onto a through ball to score the first just before half time. Yaya Toure quickly added to it, and Abdul Keita and Aruna Dindane added more. The Ivorians relaxed after this, and Benin got a consolation in the final minute. It was followed by the dullest game I saw on tour, and the only game without goals as Nigeria played Mali.

Having managed to expand our group of five to nine for the next leg, we managed a private hire of a minibus with driver for the next leg, and travelled in relative comfort. This made up in some way for the fact that over 20km of the road between the second and third biggest cities in the country was just dirt, with no sign of tarmac for miles. We got back to Kumasi, found a small hotel (the cheapest on the trip at under £10, the only one without en-suite bathroom, but at least cleaner than Takoradi or Tamale, and again with friendly and helpful staff). I quite like Kumasi, despite the loss of my computer there, and I was happy to spend some time wandering around and admiring the rather odd statues. Outside the main church, there was a man standing on the back of a lion – the question being, how to dismount? (very carefully?).

Cameroon were beaten 4-2 by Egypt in their opening match, so they needed redemption against Zambia. The Zambians, by virtue of their 3-0 win over Sudan were in a position where progression was quite plausible, if they could get something out of this game.

As it turned out, the Zambian defence turned out to be the most generous charity in the country as they gifted three goals to Cameroon, and ended up defeated by 5-1. Egypt followed this up with a comfortable 3-0 win over Sudan. I did not return to Tamale, so my last but one day in Ghana was my only football free day of the tour. We used the bus to return to Accra, and I talked for a while with a research worker who was studying the economy of the coffee growers in some small village. He told me a little about the villages, which exist without running water or power, although foreign aid has provided them with diesel pumps, which is a step better than hand pumping water. Only one person in the village has a car, and although they may want to follow the football, they have to do it without the aid of a TV.

The arrival back in Accra was not as easy as I might have hoped. Somewhere during the journey, my stomach had turned, and I wanted to get back to the hotel quickly. The taxi driver thought he knew somewhere to buy tickets for the next day’s game, so we made a short stop at a radio station (it turned out to be an unsuccessful stop). Then on returning to the road, we started to speed through along the dual carriageway when another taxi pulled in front of us, and we smashed into its back. Still, like certain Martini’s, we were shaken but not stirred by the incident, and with a change of taxis, we managed to get to our hotel in one piece.

At least back in Accra, we had the benefit of a TV in order to watch the second round of Group D games. The feature of this was the eclipse of Senegal by Angolans. Back in 2002, El Hadji Diouf and Papa Bouba Diop had been stars as Senegal had beaten France in the World Cup. Now the same players were ordinary also-runs as Senegal themselves were beaten. Manucho and Flavio were again the stars for Angola. Less surprisingly, the match was followed by Tunisa beating South Africa, by the same scoreline 3-1.