It was winter in the West. Back in Accra, the dry harmattan winds were in full effect. Ghana had just won the youth world cup a few months earlier in Italy. At that time, the ultimate hero you could find in town was a soccer star. Those of us who were too young, too unskilled to be heroes were smart enough to associate ourselves with the real ones. Every kid had an adopted name in addition to their given name. With a felt pen, I wrote mine on the back of a levi t-shirt my visiting uncle had bought me from Cambridge, Massachusetts. My name was Alex Opoku, the midfield maestro and captain of the Ghana youth team that won the World Cup. I was unfazed by the jealousy of my peers. I knew I played just like him, if not better. The only difference was that I was 12 and he was 17, allegedly.
January, 1992, Ghana sent it’s senior national team, the Black Stars to Senegal on a quest to conquer Africa for the 5th time. It would be an easy task, the pundits submitted. We’d just gotten the world under us, beating the likes of Brazil and Spain in the process. Besides, with Abedi Pele, Tony Yeboah, Tony Baffoe, Sarfo Gyamfi, Kwasi Appiah, Emmanuel Armah, Isaac Asare and the ever popular Coach Otto Pfister on our side, who’d dare stand against us? Sengal, according to the plan, was supposed to be just a mere formality. And a formality it was; at least until an Edward Ansah’s misstep gifted Nigeria a goal during the early minutes of the semi-final ‘clash of the titans’.
Before the epic semi-final encounter kicked off, we’d had our early afternoon fufu and chicken soup, said our prayers, predicted the line up and made ourselves comfortable in the living room, our eyes glued to the tv. Knowing I wasn’t old enough to get a seat in the couch or any of the chairs, I wrapped myself in my dad’s comforter and lay quietly on the carpet.
Soon it was kick-off. A tense atmosphere filled the room. Everyone sat on the edge of their seats, except of course, my mother who was busily grading homework. In a matter of minutes, Nigeria scored and the country became silent.