If there was to be a major Mathematics exam on the 24th of June 2010, the day after Ghana played Germany in the 2010 World Cup, I could vouch for the fact that all who had registered for that exam would have received a major boost ahead of the encounter. Never before had I seen a whole nation engrossed in the spirit and practice of the subject. Never.
From street corners, households, offices, sidewalks, market centres, public eating and easing places and everywhere, Mathematics became the most preferred subject for discussion more than anything else. Even our beloved political discussions received a huge nudge that will forever be remembered.
‘…So if Germany beat Ghana and Australia lose to Serbia, will Ghana still qualify? One shop attendant asked his colleague at a shop where I had gone to get a tin of milk. On my way back, I overhead two local mechanics debating seriously about the issue - one of them was insisting that the Black Stars would still have qualified even if they had lost to Germany. The other would have none of that. ‘…If Germany beats us, we dey go home sharp! He repeated continuously. They debate went on I suppose, hours after I had left and all through the nation, everyone was engaged in this football mathematics. To tell the truth, I am not a firm believer in the so-called ‘calculations’ in football and so when after the game against Germany, I learnt the Black Stars had qualified for the next stage of the competition; I just did not know how it happened. They had to lose a game to qualify?
‘Why we qualify? I asked one of my neighbours, a youngster who prided himself in the fact that he knew almost everything about football. ‘Why you no know? He asked with a dint of sarcasm in his voice. I looked hard at him and wondered why football was not that simple. When two teams play, there are two things that could happen. One team would win, the other would lose or nobody wins in which case a draw would have occurred. That sounds easy doesn’t it? Not so in a tournament situation like the World Cup. Here as I later learnt, every game result in a group had an effect on other results. Take group D in this year’s competition for example, this group had Serbia, Australia, Germany and our own Ghana in contention. What happened in this group could best be described as absolutely incredible!
Ghana beat Serbia with an unaccompanied goal in the opening game. Germany walloped Australia in the following game immediately establishing the superiority of these two teams in the group. But somehow, Serbia beat Germany in the next round and Ghana drew with Australia. I’m sure this was when the mathematical nature of football became apparent. Logical Reasoning (my favourite Secondary school Maths topic) promptly became useful: if Ghana beat Serbia and Serbia beat Germany, who will win the game between Ghana and Germany? First question. I’m sure the logical answer to this would be Ghana beating Germany right? Wrong. Germany beat Ghana.
Next question: If Serbia beat Germany and Germany beat Australia, who will win the game between Australia and Serbia? Were you thinking of Serbia beating Australia? Think again my friend for that did not happen. Australia beat Serbia! So here am I still wondering why football is not that simple. In fact, it is because of these and many other reasons why the explanation given by my neighbour still intrigued me. Ghana beat Serbia and had 3 points. Serbia had none. Ghana drew with Australia and they both gained a point each. At this stage Australia had only 1 point because Germany took all 3 points from the game they played against them. Next, Serbia beat Germany and took all 3 points. So that brings us to 4 points for Ghana, 3 points for Serbia, 3 points for Germany and a point for Australia after the second round. If we were working this complex thing with only the points the teams gained, things would have been a little easier for us. But I learnt rather grudgingly that there is something called, ‘goal difference’ or ‘goal aggregate’ that added to the points gained. Oh not other!
That is why even after the second round of the group matches, he explained, qualification was still not guaranteed for any of the teams. Germany led the goal chart with 4 goals, followed by Ghana with 2 and then Serbia and Australia with 1 apiece. In the final analysis, Germany beat Ghana by a lone goal and earned 6 points for themselves. Ghana earned no point from that game and so maintained their 4 points with 2 goals. Interestingly, Australia beat Serbia by 2 goals to 1 and earned 4 points with 3 goals. And so after a long explanation that touched on goals conceded, goals scored and a host of other impenetrable reasons, he finally arrived the reason why Ghana was able to qualify in this seemingly difficult group. He did his best but I still did not get it. I told him I didn’t get it; that I have concluded that I would never get it. He could not understand, in fact, he insisted it was not confusing at all. I bet he’ll be teaching Mathematics in the near future. Good luck to him.
The reason why Ghanaians love this aspect of the game I can’t tell but I can definitely say, football really makes the mind go round. For example, what would have happened if Ghana had drawn with Germany and Serbia had beaten Australia by a lone goal? Just thinking…
