I have never been a soccer person. I mean, I played bunch ball like any other American six-year-old (along with t-ball, of course), but my love with soccer ended the very next year when the city league began to enforce the rules. Off-sides? Positions? What did this mean? Nobody bothered to explain, so I spent that year getting called out a LOT.
So I stopped playing, all the way until I turned twenty. I was in Ghana, and boy howdy do they love soccer. One day as I was playing with the orphanage kids at a local pitch, a boy from the village was kind enough to teach me a few tricks. For example, a good way to get the ball is to scream in your opponent's face and steal the ball when he's startled. Helpful, that.
And somehow, my four months in Ghana transformed me into an avid soccer fan. Or at least, and avid World Cup fan. When Ghana plays. It was pretty bad last World Cup when Ghana played the U.S. Call me unpatriotic, but I cheered for Ghana. And when they won and I pranced around my college campus in a Ghana jersey, I got a lot of flack.
But this year I can cheer for both teams (at least for the moment). And the second half of the Ghana v Australia game just kicked off. So excuse me as I go scream myself hoarse.
Go Ghana!
(And don't forget, you can enter the raffle to get cool Ghanaian stuff AND help Ghanaian kids get an education here!)
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