Living Life : Hand of God, in Soccer!

A Roberto Baggio or let’s call it the Asamoah Gyan moment broke the hearts of Africa, last Friday. Gyan, the otherwise unlikely hero of Africa’s main flag bearer in Africa - Ghana stood up to kick one last spot kick – one that would make history for Africa. In World Cup history, only two other countries have reached the Quarter Final stage, Cameroon in 1990 and Senegal in 2002. Ghana is only the third but had a chance to go one better. After an infamous but suave Uruguayan robbed Ghana of victory, Gyan had a second chance to atone the misfortune but he instead succeeded in sending shock and sorrow throughout the continent. Today, we know that the hallowed mass of gold is going to Amsterdam or Madrid, but the situation begs the question, does God really take sides in football? In 1986, Diego Maradona scored the infamous ‘hand of God’ goal that struck England out of the World Cup. Uruguayan Luis Suarez now claims that his is the ‘real hand of God.’ As cruel as fate could have been, in 2010, Maradona was on the receiving end of a four – nil mauling from a young German side, which also crumbled in the heat of Spanish salsa. But whether God guided their boots or not is something for another day. Many soccer players, catholic, Anglican, Muslim make the sign of the cross when they take onto or leave the pitch, sometimes several times even when the sign of the cross is a catholic-Christian culture. In this World Cup, the new faith was the pre-match holding of shoulders in a circle with the other hand placed on the head of one player who knelt in the centre of the circle. No one knows what is said in those incidences but at least they look like a beseeching of the heavenly and a modified form of the morale boosting hooray before a match into other sports like rugby and basket ball. Egyptian players are famous for doing the Muslim prayer after a victory. So at least we know that players believe that God can help them win. So doesn’t God really choose whoever wins a match before hand or he lets the best team win? Take England, France and Italy – was God rewarding their laziness with an early exit, which at least was fair enough? What about South Africa and their above average effort? God is a very fair God at least by my knowledge, so perhaps that is why the so-called highly rated players flop because think since they are good, good things will just work out for them - think Ronaldo, Rooney, Messi, etc. meanwhile people like Klose, Diego Forlan, and before that howler – Asamoah Gyan, Tshabalala, name them. Clearly, God does not support anybody. OK, sometimes he weighs in, here and there to redress some unfairness, like for example watch Uruguay closely. Well, now the soccer – and the heart break is over, we can get ready for 2014 in Brazil, and remember God helps those who help themselves. I wish you a religious Sunday! kelviod@yahoo.com