AFCON Finals: Senegalese fans for Ghana

Senegalese football followers are banking their hopes on fellow West Africans Ghana to win the African Cup of Nations on Sunday against Egypt. AfricaNews reporter in the country said the support is geared towards the Black Stars.

The football fanatics in a random interview told africanews.com that the Black Stars make a better representation for black Africa than their North African opponents. But there is also some bit of confession.

"You can look at the previous matches and guess the near truth as to who is likely to win, but it will be very impossible to deny what the heart stands by" said Morr Corr, surrounded by his eager clientele in a rather noisy tailoring workshop in Dakar.

"The Egyptians, " Morr added, "are a force to be reckoned with but I can’t deny what my heart feels for Ghana. "

Very importantly also, the fact that a win for Ghana means the cup coming over to the West side makes it an even more worthy course to support the Black Stars.

Perhaps no one is more so passionate about that view than Elhadj Gai. He is an amateur footballer with a local team in a suburb in Dakar. But Gai hates being let down. He has bitter feelings for the Ivoirians for "disappointing Senegal. "

Then it was the Cameroonians whom he thinks easily gave up, and then the "bad" performance by the Nigerians. Like Corr, Gai feels threatened by the imposing performance of the no nonsense Egyptians. "But, " he said, "no one could have seen that Ghana would deal with Nigeria the way they did. So they can have a repetition of that shocking performance. "

Our reporter said despite the overwhelming verbal support for them, a victory for the Ghanaians is however not likely to see anything beyond the familiar smiling faces you come across here in Senegal when their favorite teams win. But it surely will serve as a perfect consolatory prize.

"We can’t afford to loose all despite the undeniable fact that most of Africa’s footballing giants are from this end of the continent; Senegal, Nigeria, Cameroon, and even Ghana, " said Yusu Ndure (not the music superstar), a businessman. Yusu said you can’t discuss African football without mentioning at least two of these teams.