CAN 2008 Ghana

This blog is taking a break from its South Africa report to take note of a big event here in Ghana. We are in the midst of the Cup of African Nations 2008 soccer tournament, hosted in Ghana this year. For CAN, Ghana built new stadiums (stadia?) in various parts of the country. Thousands of visitors from all over Africa are here to see the games. The whole country has soccer (called football here) fever.

At first we planned to avoid the games, thinking they'd be overcrowded, rowdy and dangerous. When we heard that wasn't the case, we went to a game with some friends. This was our first time at the new Accra stadium. It's nice, modern and clean! They have indoor bathrooms! There's a giant electronic scoreboard! We were impressed.

There were snack and beverage vendors, but no alcohol was allowed, so there weren't any drunken fans (that we noticed). Even smoking was prohibited. They patted us down and searched our bags as we entered. One guy had his cigarettes and lighter confiscated.

Our tickets had microchips embedded inside them! Fancy.

We watched Cote d'Ivoire trounce Mali, 3-0. There was a large Ivorian contingent, cheering and dancing each time a goal was made. About half the seats in the stadium were empty, though, probably because Ghana was not playing in this particular game.

Ghana faces Nigeria in the quarterfinals this Sunday, Feb. 3. The entire nation is crossing its collective fingers.

So Ghana did a great job of preparing for CAN. Let's hope they'll apply the same effort to water, sanitation and electricity in the future.