"Are you a missionary?"

Hah! We've now been asked this a few times. Ghanaians laugh and smile a lot, so the giggling "umm, no" has not, thus far, insulted anyone. But we've realized we need a better response. Fortunately, we have an idea. In the past week, there's been more decisive legislative action worldwide surrounding football hooliganism than any other (dare I say "more"?) pertinent issue of our time. Over the years, significant national economic trends have been linked to big matches. In 1969, riots surrounding qualifying matches helped spark the 100-hour "soccer war" between El Salvador and Honduras. Just this past summer, Cote d'Ivoire effectively suspended its civil war to give unified support to its team in the World Cup. All of this leads us to believe that our dear footie has some serious potential. We're planning to write a book in the next few years--"Will Football Save the World?" And in the meantime, we're going to say that we're football missionaries.

All this comes in the season of FIFA Friendlies...If you watched any matches last week, perhaps you saw Les Bleus lose to Argentina (wah!). Maybe you had that sick "can't NOT watch" fascination as England continued, well, stinking. Most likely you celebrated as the good old Americans finally found the Landon Donovan they had been looking for this summer. Not us. We, well...we watched something a bit different. The Ghana Black Stars handily dispatched the Nigeria Super Eagles, 4-1, ending a 15-year drought versus their regional rivals. Ghana has a bit of an inferiority complex vis-a-vis Nigeria, stretching beyond football. Nigeria has more money, more influence...oil. There's a complicated history here (read CLA's dissertation in a few years), but from the looks of things in the courtyard of the Catters Hostel, the game provided some vindication for Ghana. Joseph, our building manager, couldn't stay in his seat the entire match, a huge grin plastered to his face. Yvette (Ivoirian living in Ghana) stayed more subdued in her chair, nodding in affirmation but visibly nervous any time the ball entered Ghana's defensive half, unable to relax even with a three goal lead. Some guy I've never seen before yelled "GOOOOOAAAAAL" any time Essien or Appiah touched the ball, regardless of where. On the other side of the yard, the Nigerians (and one Beninese buddy) good-heartedly went back-and-forth with Joseph throughout the scoreless first half, and even until 2-0. At that point, they started claiming that the game didn't mean anything without their star striker, Obafemi Martins (though it was patently obvious that their problems weren't up front...). By the time the final whistle blew, they had quietly disappeared inside. Joseph finally sat down and sighed, "all of Ghana will have a holiday tomorrow."