Football Fever

One of the great parts about The World Race so far has been learning about the sports that people are fanatical about in each country along the way. I love sports, and it’s awesome to see which ones have captured each nation and join in whenever I can. In New Zealand it was netball. Basketball in the Philippines. Here in Kenya, and likely in all of Africa, it’s football (no, not that kind of football…soccer!!). It’s just about the only sport I ever see being played here, and it’s been so much fun to watch. Sometimes it’s played in the school yards, and other times it’s played in the streets. Most of the kids can’t afford soccer balls, and oftentimes, the game is played with whatever materials they can wad together in the shape of a ball. They’ll make a field anywhere where the ground is somewhat level, and their fields often double as pastures. It’s always fun to see how creative they get when making goals as well. Most of the fields have two vertical sticks and a horizontal stick for a crossbar as their goal. Often, they just place two stones or random items a few feet apart and use that as their goal. It’s certainly a sport that doesn’t require much money to get a game started. That’s probably why it’s so popular here and in many nations around the world. Just make a ball out of anything, move the cows out of the way, find two rocks, and start playing!!

The fact that The World Cup is being played here only adds to the football interest. The whole continent is in a frenzy over this tournament because it’s the first time it’s taken place in Africa. I’ve had the pleasure of watching a few of the games on tv. All of the Kenyans root for the other African nations. Everyone we watch with knows that the African nations represent all of Africa and want them to represent this continent well. The nations are very different than each other, but they have pride in their continent. I’ve never seen anything like that before. Do I ever root for Canada or Mexico in any sport so that they represent North America well?  Sure don’t!!  I, along with six other Americans on the race, had the joy of watching the US play Ghana the other night. We proudly stood up and sang our national anthem and chanted “USA” throughout the game. Our patriotism quickly faded when Ghana scored early. The living room erupted in joy!! The US tied it at 1 but lost in overtime. After the final whistle blew, our hosts were screaming in the living room, the kids took off running outside, and we sat around wondering what we got ourselves into by watching this sport with such a passionate crowd. 

It was such an awesome experience. I love learning about the passions of other cultures on this race, and football is something most Africans are very passionate about. As the only remaining African team in The World Cup, I think all of Africa is completely behind Ghana. After being a part of the joy during the game the other night, I think I’ll join in with the rest of the continent for the remainder of the tournament.  Go Ghana!