For those of you who weren’t following the CAF Africa Cup Of Nations on the matchtracker (oh, wait….), lightly regarded Zimbabwe eliminated future U.S. World Cup opponent Ghana today. While this totally busts my CAF Africa Cup Of Nations bracket (oh, wait….), I can’t say I’m completely disappointed with the result.

Here’s my rationale: since Italy, the Czech Republic and Ghana are in the same group as the United States, they are now officially The Bad Guys. Any misfortune (injury, loss in a friendly, sex scandal, doping scandal, coach-being-fooled-into-talking-sh*t-about-his-players scandal) for any of these teams is a positive for the United States. Sure, it doesn’t feel good to root against an impoverished nation from the developing world, but at least this (the World Cup) is something in which the U.S. doesn’t flex its hegemonic biceps. And yes, that’s how I rationalize it.

Link:
Warriors stun Ghana [The Official Web Site of the 2006 Egypt MTN Africa Cup Of Nations — and they apparently have free video online]