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Charcoal powder on faces, fans bring good luck

Four men came into the stadium with face smeared with charcoal powder. Why?

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Ghana fans at DY Patil Stadium on Wednesday
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A couple of minutes after Ghana sealed their place in the quarterfinals by beating Niger, every player of the team got together and walked towards one corner of the DY Patil Stadium.

They paused, clapped and broke into a dance. Their audience was a group of 25 fans who had come all the way from Ghana to support their young footballing heroes.

Some were young, some were old, some were women. But some, though, stood out.

Four men came into the stadium with face smeared with charcoal powder. Why?

“It’s a tradition back in Ghana,” Paul Foyamane, a 21-year-old boy who painted himself and had one glass of his spectacles broken, says while bowling a whistle. “People apply charcoal on their faces as a good luck charm before any big event in their life. It is considered lucky. So we painted ourselves in the morning to ensure that our boys win.”

The group landed in Mumbai on Tuesday after attending their senior team’s match back home, and bought charcoal power on the morning of the match. Four men came forward to be the flagbearers of their traditional values, painted their faces, and off they went to support their Black Starlets.

“This is our way of helping our boys, who are giving their blood and sweat on the field for their country back home. We owe it to them,” 19-year-old Mitchell Asamoah, also sporting a red wig, says.

The group sings aloud, dances so often, and even eggs on the Indian public to join the party. That’s how people treat football back home.

“No matter which level, every victory on the football field by Ghana is big, man,” says Foyamane. “People will jump on the streets, drink all night, party all night in Ghana to celebrate their boys’ victory tonight.” Ask them if they can win the quarterfinal against Mali, and they take offence. “What quarterfinal? We’re winning the Cup. We’re becoming the champions. God is with us,” Asamoah says.

Ghana coach Samuel Fabin is all too happy with the support. “When you come to play a match of this nature, you look at the fans and when you see your countrymen there, it gives you morale and kind of confidence to (perform). We are happy that they came and their presence helped us,” he said.

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