SPECTACULAR PERFORMANCE

YESTERDAY, the Black Stars shone and Ghana brightened up as her people, both young and old, erupted into ecstasy following their 2-1 victory over Guinea in the opening match of Ghana 2008.
Our warriors met their match but they managed to show the foreigners that they know the terrain better.
Everybody accepts the fact that opening matches of all tournaments are tough and even tougher at tournaments of international stature such as the Africa Cup of Nations.
This is because, usually, the host nations are involved and they come under enormous pressure to sail through to the next stage and then work hard to get to the finals.
The pressure comes for various reasons such as the fact that the host team should endeavour to be in the competition to attract people in the country, and for that matter the supporters to patronise the tournament. This way the beauty of the tournament would not be undermined and also there would be some returns on the investment made in the tournament by the host country.
The pressure can therefore cause the host team to be on edge and over-react to the detriment of their own performance, in which case they could lose the game or secure just a draw.
Thankfully, the pressure could not put the Black Stars under heavy weight as they looked composed and ready to go for the onslaught.
Perhaps, the Stars might have been motivated by the massive national support for them and also the fact that the generality of Ghanaians are outgrowing their attitude of castigating their national team even before the players go into play.
The DAILY GRAPHIC wishes to appeal to all Ghanaians to sustain the massive support for we know that the Stars would acknowledge it and reciprocate with wins to brighten further the country.
We must be honest that the Black Stars did not have it easy. Therefore, we appeal to the playing body, as well as the technical and the management teams, to do everything possible to plug the loopholes for we demand nothing but the Cup.
“We host to win” is the slogan and it will take only the efforts of the afore-mentioned groups, coupled with the massive support, to make the slogan a reality.
Therefore, our piece of advice by way of showing our support is that the Stars should not under-rate any team. They should see all their opponents as teams that can potentially undermine their bid to win the Cup. We hope the Stars would employ all that it takes to keep the Africa Cup here by conquering the rest of Africa.
The DAILY GRAPHIC wishes to congratulate the Stars on their spectacular performance and urge them on tto greater exploits.
Our Stars, fight on, shine even brighter and give us more of the spectacular performance. Syli Nationale, the Guinean national team, were not a walk-over, they were gallant losers.
We also commend the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for showcasing the best of Ghanaian culture at the opening ceremony. If the opening ceremony was a foretaste of things to come, then Ghana 2008 will live up to its mission of “Sharing Passions at the Centre of the Earth”.