Walter Wilson Nana, AfricaNews reporter in Buea, Cameroon
Ghana defender John Mensah has cautioned that staging the World Cup on home soil does not mean an African team is going to win the tournament. He said all the 32 teams including his native Ghana has to determine their own fate in South Africa.
“I’m glad to play in it as it’s the first time the World Cup has come to Africa,” he told a Ghanaian tabloid The Journal.
“But just because it’s in Africa doesn’t mean an African team is going to win it. We don’t need to think that because it’s in Africa we’ll have things our own way. We need to determine that ourselves,” he sounded a note of advice.
John Mensah, who is part of the Black Star 23-man squad already in South Africa, will be making his second World Cup appearance after Germany 2006.
Six African representatives including host South Africa are participating in the competition. The other teams are the Super Eagles of Nigeria, the Elephants of Ivory Coast, the Desert Foxes from Algeria, Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions and the Black Stars of Ghana.
