THE VAGARIES OF VILLAINS AND HEROES

By OMOSEYE BOLAJI


“The most excruciating unfair aspect of the World Cup from the African perspective was the exit of Ghana..."


The World Cup has always thrown up a compound of alleged villains and heroes – depending on the particular perspective. Just like classical history. Like Lord Nelson of the English naval battle fame is still revered by millions in England…but how do the French feel about him? Opinion is split on the likes of Napoleon Bonaparte …hero or villain?

But re football. In 1986 Diego Maradona scored his first goal against England in the World Cup, via a blatant handball. The “hand of God” episode which the millions of people in the English would never forgive him for – yet the same action elicited adulation for Maradona by many millions of Argentinians and South Americans.

To be more up to date, millions of Irish and their kindred “allies” like the English – were shocked when Thierry Henry “cheated” them out of qualifying for the World Cup finals after using his hand, even twice to create the crucial winning goal for the French. But millions of French were only too happy to get to South Africa, one way or the other. Henry was both a villain and a hero (Not that the French covered themselves in glory in South Africa, but that’s another story.

A horror story!

It continues to happen – incidents that tilt certain matches in favour of another side. Controversial incidents that the world would remember for decades, perhaps, for ever. Germany thrashed England 4-1 at this World Cup but millions of English would continue to blame the referee for disallowing what could have been a second goal converted by Lampard which would have made it 2-2.

Anyway even if the referee was not the most popular person in England or the British isles, you can bet millions of Germans would not see it that way. As far as they are concerned it was a comprehensive win for their side, whether the second English goal was disallowed or not. Such are the vagaries of villains and heroes even in football!

The most excruciating, unfair aspect of this World Cup from the African perspective was the exit of Ghana. There can be no doubt about it – Ghana should have won and been ensconced in the World Cup semi finals, the first African side to achieve this feat. With virtually the last kick of the match Ghana had more or less put the ball in the net, then Uruguay’s Luis Suarez handled, preventing the goal. The tragedy was compounded when Ghana’s Asamoah Gyan could not score from the resultant penalty award.

And Uruguay went on to march into the semi finals thanks to the penalty shoot-out.

The horror! (as Joseph Conrad would say). But what about the protagonist, Suarez? Certainly a villain to millions all over Africa, but a veritable hero in Uruguay. A shameless cheat from the African perspective, but the man who “greatly sacrificed himself to prod Uruguay into the semi finals” in South America. Which adumbrates the 2002 World Cup when Germany’s Michael Ballack “sacrificed” himself to put South Korea out of the very final. Hero to Germans, villain to South Koreans.

But Ghana being cheated out of the semi finals this time around takes the biscuit...