African Cup of Nations!

For the past three weeks, Port Elizabeth have had the opportunity to host games for the African Cup of Nations (AFCON). AFCON is a continental tournament that usually occurs every two years, however has been played for three consecutive years. Originally the tournament was to be held in Libya however due to the political strife in the country it was moved to South Africa. The city hosted Group B which consisted of Mali, Ghana, Niger, and Democratic Republic of Congo. The only team that I knew had any football prowess is Ghana, who has knocked the United States of the World Cup in both 2006 and 2010.

Crowd going crazy after scoring a Penalty

My roommate for two years and long time friend Michael Adu hails from Ghana, so in support of him I rooted for the Black Stars in every game. The games have been played as double headers, and the tickets are only 50R ($6 USD for two games!!), so I took advantage and went to every match. I made one of my favorite purchases since being in South Africa by buy a Ghanian flag outside the game for 35R and waved it around like a true Black Stars supporter. I was even interviewed by a random TV station. They were very curious that this Ghanian supporter from South Africa had an American accent.

My favorite match was actually between Niger and Democratic Republic of Congo. The play on the field was actually subpar, but the atmosphere in the stadium is something I will never forget. Both teams were playing pretty terribly, however #9 for DRC was playing particularly poorly and the South Africans let him have it. They would shuffle their hands together like an american football referee calling a false start (can you picture it?) demanding that the player be substituted immediately. A chorus of whistles echoed throughout the crowd, followed by laughter as grown men enjoyed the fact that they might have done better than this professional player. The mexican wave was attempted at least 14 times as people wanted any time of entertainment other than what was going on in the game.

Jacob Zuma

The game continued in a sluggish, boring fashion so the fans had to make up their own amusement. One particular fan who looked remarkably like Jacob Zuma (RSA President)  was walking down the aisle towards his seat being ushered by two "security guards (two of his friends)" and the crowd was chanting Zuma! Zuma! Zuma! It was pretty hysterical. However, my favorite part of the game was when a little boy (possibly 5 years old) stood on his seat and began doing a trans-like dance. I am not entirely sure how it started, but after about 5 minutes of slowly moving his arms and dancing to the beat there was a crowd of over 100 people clapping and encouraging him on. All in all it was a wonderful experience, one you probably would not find in a more intense game.

Ghana and Mali ended up placing 1st and 2nd respectively in the group and moved on to the quarterfinals. They are actually both playing in the semifinals later this week as Ghana toppled Cape Verde 2-0 and Mali broke the hearts of all South Africans defeating Bafana Bafana in penalty kicks.

Right After purchasing my new flag!

A little bit of Barrett's handiwork

Epic.