kriskotei

Ghana Black Satellites celebrating the sweet victory over their Brazilian counterpart

“Focused will is incredible. If you have a dream and you don’t give up no matter what obstacles come up, then life’s problems will fall away and you will get what you want. It happens. It works.” —Yanni

Ghanaians in particular, Africans for that matter and the whole black race in general, had a course to smile, after the Black Satellites of Ghana defied all odds and beat the Brazilians in the finals of the Under 20 World Cup in Egypt.

Just some few minutes into a game that Ghana already looked very vulnerable and not finding the rhythm, Daniel Addo was shown the exit for tackling a Brazilian in a manner the referee saw as ‘bad’ and thus gave him (Addo) a red card, reducing the Ghanaian side by one.

How possible can anybody stand before a team like Brazil with a numerical disadvantage?

I felt more depressed than anything, knowing what the Brazilians are capable of doing even when one is playing with all eleven men.

As I sat behind my black and white, 14” television set to see the ‘lads’ of Ghana battle it out with their Brazilian counterparts, I could only see God doing one of His wonderful miracles again and again.

By the way, a friend argued that God does not watch football and thus cannot decide on who wins at the end, because He is father of all and can not see one team being happy and the other sad.

He said this because, on one of the local FM stations in Accra, some pastors had gathered to offer prayers, and instead of the Black Satellites, they were calling God to help the Black Stars to beat the Brazilians. What an irony!

On a more serious note, on Friday, October 16, 2009, I said to my self that God is indeed a Ghanaian. If not for anything at all, both Ghana and God have something in common: the letter ‘G’.

I saw God’s favour at work as we battled the soccer nation with ten-men for the full ninety minutes and an additional thirty minutes and going ahead to beat them on penalty shoots out.

Ghana once again became the first nation in Africa to achieve the enviable, adding to our tall list of records and I would not be surprise, should we win the World Cup for the first time as an African nation in South Africa.

Many lessons have I learnt in life, but the zeal of the Black Satellites has made me know that a disadvantage can be turned into an advantage if you put in mind, where you want to go and not what you have.

Goliath of the Philistine was not an easy task for David. He (Goliath) was physically big (giant) and experienced in the war front; compared to David, a lad who still ate from the mother’s cooking pot. Yet David managed to kill Goliath.

His stature gave room for a small stone to hit him on the forehead, making him fall down like a pile of cards. His gigantic stature became a disadvantage to him and an advantage for David to hit.

To the Black Satellites, I say kudos. ‘Mawu na yra mi!’