The Vim Views & Versions - Blogs of a MIghTy African

From a very reliable source, I hear the Black Stars haven't left Brazil yet. They are back to their base in Maceió in the north east of Brazil where they are based. However, I have some sound advice for each of our Black Stars as well as Kwasi Appiah. Since we're not a serious people & we like joking, I am joining just for today. Hashtag is #BlackStarsReasonsForStayingInBrazil. If you have more, join in the fun. #BlackStarsReasonsForStayingInBrazil Sulley Ali Muntari @MuntariOfficial is staying to give money out to the poor in #Brazil . Alms giving. — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 27, 2014 #BlackStarsReasonsForStayingInBrazil Jordan Ayew is posing for TV commercials in #Brazil about his 'balls', since Ghanaians are endowed. — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 27, 2014 #BlackStarsReasonsForStayingInBrazil André Ayew Pelé @AyewAndre is doing a pilgrimage to the original Pele's home with his father in #Brazil — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) Ju...

I don't know much about Northern Ireland. I do know that they have their own 'national' football team that's not really good and they've not been to the World Cup before. That said, why do they have their own national football team? Because the British invented soccer. It's true. As in, that's the reason . Anyway, Northern Ireland could have benefited from playing from a British soccer team cos I don't see them going to the World Cup anytime soon. It is the home of George Best and also where the great Jonny Evans who plays for  +Manchester United  hails from. I expected Northern Ireland to be crazy about football but it was not really meant to be. Every country should have  #Supersport . Including Northern Ireland. And then  #ESPN  because of the  #NBA .  #sportsfanspeaking . — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco)  February 19, 2014 I am a huge fan of sports, especially watching, and studying soccer aka football and basketball.  +SuperSport ...

As many of you would know by now, Ghana has just confirmed its qualification to the World Cup in Brazil next year. It was a foregone conclusion after the Black Stars spelt Egypt and walloped the Pharoahs in Kumasi Agoropramaso last month. Congrats to the Black Stars and big ups to all the supporters of the Ghana national football team. I got to watch most of the second half and saw our goal. I missed a lot of tweets too. So for our collective benefit, here are some tweets you may have missed as you were following the Ghana game versus Egypt and the subsequent celebrations. And my comments :-) Video of Black Stars players singing on the pitch last night ahead of today's game against http://t.co/DWDBJI18lM . follow for live updates. — Ghanasoccernet.com (@Ghanasoccernet) November 19, 2013 We love these kinds of videos. I love Jama too! Just like these guys  +Donald Ward   +Seyram Freddy Ahiabor  and  +David Nikoi . Big game ahead of us #blackstars #gh...

By the time the 2003-2004 season started, I had been at MIT for almost a year. It was hard. I couldn't watch my favorite European team 's game as much as I wanted. I was in a country where soccer was not the most popular sport. Mind boggling. Arse... let me stop myself. No, let me continue. Arsenal. Man United's fiercest rivals were enjoying their finest season. Arsene Wenger 's men went undefeated for a whole season and won the league again. The Invincibles. +Manchester United  won the FA Cup though, ensuring we didn't end up trophyless . On the flip side, Arsenal won the 2005 FA Cup and have won only one trophy consistently over the last 8 years, the 4th place trophy that allows them to play the Champions League . Yes, I went there . Oh wait, you mean Arsenal hasn't won a major trophy since 2005? For real? Talking about Champions League, some Jose Mourinho guy and his band of brothers beat our beloved team in 2004 Champions League and went on to win ...

There are many noisy Manchester United fans. I am one of them on occasion. I have been a supporter of Manchester United since 1994. It's hard to believe that it would be 20 years since I started cheering and following Manchester United . During that time, Manchester United has been one of the most successful sports club in the world. Its undisputed leader, Sir Alex Ferguson , retired after capturing the club's 20th English championship. David Moyes was his assigned heir and though he's off to a fairly shaky start, many ManUtd fans are solidly behind him. He has a long way to go to fill the shoes of the man who run   +Manchester United  like a businessman and has a Harvard Business School case study around his work. I started following football aka soccer very closely in 1994. My father is a Hearts of Oak supporter so I naturally became a Phobia fan too. Growing up, we used to watch a lot of European soccer, I can clearly remember the "Football Made in German...

Many of you might know Richard Kingson as Ghana's goalkeeper at the 2006 and 2010 World Cups. There are many great images of him. He's not been Ghana's first choice goalkeeper for a couple of years now. Recently, he was called back into the Black Stars set-up and many fans are not happy with this, thinking he is too old to still play great football. This has led to the creation of many jokes about how old Richard Kingston aka Olele is. These have captured all over social media with the hashtag #OleleFacts. There is even a Twitter account called @OleleFacts. This phenomenon has also been featured on BBC. Wanna know what the fuss is about? Read these tweets below. According to history, Olele's first words were "You must be Adam, welcome to the Garden of Eden"  #oleleFacts — Our Favorite Fugitiv (@Naa_Achere)  August 27, 2013 +Achere Buxton  gets us going again. So Olele was either the first man or really is an angel living amongst us. Your pick. E...

So Richard Kingson got called up to the Black Stars after some years away from the team recently. Many Black Star fans have said he is too old to play for the Ghana national football team. So the jokes started and #OleleFacts has been born. Here are some of the best ones related to football, which is what he was famous for in the first place.  Olele has played in four generations of the Black Stars #OleleFacts pic.twitter.com/RxMSHqFyZT — Francis Ahlidza (@fahlidza) October 1, 2013 He sure has been around for a while. If John Mensah is the rock of Gibraltar (23.3% of the time), then Olele is the rock of Ages. #oleleFacts taken with a pinhole camera , look for him pic.twitter.com/H3snvq7RPY — Our Favorite Fugitiv (@Naa_Achere) August 27, 2013 Olele likes being in pictures. One of them is very old...the other is Nelson Mandela. #Olelefacts pic.twitter.com/1eMFz05Dmd — DiDi (@itsDiDi) October 4, 2013 Nelson Mandela was 95 this year. "When Olele got to c...

After watching yet another fine game of football, my buddy Francis and I got into a conversation around what was more important - defenders or attackers? Since, this is sports-related, this debate is a little more relevant to guys. The debate topic ( also asked on Twitter ) was/is "What is more important to the success of a team in a sporting or physical activity? A good defence or a good attack?" Francis and I agreed that 'defence' is more important and critical. Here are some points that illustrate our point; series of tweets coming up :-) Attackers might score the goals but defenders & defense wins championships #discos — Mighty African (@mightyafrican) April 14, 2013 You might see the attackers and be pleased with the work but when the defense is working, u wont be seeing the attackers then. #discos — Mighty African (@mightyafrican) April 14, 2013 You can lose the game even if your attack is working well n you have a terrible defend. Easier to at...

You can't start talking about the Black Stars without talking about their "hairstyles". Vorsah, Wakaso and Gyan stood out amongst the lot at the African Cup of Nations. A few image searches of the players below would yield what their barbers have been doing to them for reasons I cannot barb. Let's stick to dissecting the usual suspects, and name (with nicknames) who should feature for the Black Stars as we prepare towards shockprising the world in Brazil 2014. Richard Kingston , Olele! Wait, he has retired right? Adam Kwarasey probably let the Ghanaian ladies affection for him get into his head. Cos when he Googles himself, this is what he sees . The ladies would choose him while the guys choose Fatau Dauda . A man must be ugly and fearfu l. That works well for goalkeepers. Fatau should be Ghana's first choice (hear the bevy say nor! no-way!) Daniel Adjei will be the third banner, with enough liberty to be professional on the bench. As much as I would love...

I've been meaning to write a blog post about yet another tournament that ended without the Black Stars of Ghana winning the whole shebang. And then the Ayews 'retired' from the Black Stars. Bang! Opinion is divided on whether Ghana should get the services of Dede and Jordan Ayew for our national football team. Opinion is also divided on whether they could have helped the Black Stars do better at the African Cup of Nations that just happened in South Africa. I think they would have helped but I had few reasons to believe we couldn't end our trophy wait earlier this month. If you're counting, the Black Stars have not won a major tournament in more than 30 years . In fact, the Black Stars have not lifted a trophy since I was born. Yeah, go ahead and put the blame on me . I have been an avid supporter of the Black Stars. I get antsy when Ghanaians don't support, don't show belief or rally behind them. I almost believe that if our belief in the Black Stars is...

I was extra excited for this year's African Cup of Nations (AFCON). I felt South Africa would host a good tournament but mostly because Ghana's Black Stars were returning to the scenes of the Mzansi Mundial where they captured the imagination of football fans everywhere. Sadly, the Black Stars came away without the trophy which was very disappointing. The Orange African Cup of Nations did give us a lot of stories though which I would like to recap through my various lenses. I'd leave the Ghanaian point of view to another blog post. I've been introducing my various alter-egos to the world. East African nations don't do as well at football so Uganda's  Richard Nshuti Mayanja , Kenya's   David Ochieng Mwangi   and Tanzania's   Hamis Ambwene Massawe   had to find other countries to support. The Cranes have been getting Ugandans excited about their football but ultimately fell short. Victor Wanyama is tipped to join Manchester United and McDonald Marig...