Not many people watched the match. Nobody really thought we could win.
The Benin squirrels
were beaten 4 to 1. Even before the match, considering their performance in the
opening match, it didn't seem overly likely that they would beat the Ivory Coast, the second-best in Africa. In town not many fans believed it; there weren't many
t-shirts or banners to be seen. Only the household-appliances company ATC BEKO had
put a banner in its window front. We watched the match on a giant screen in Cotonou. Even after the
first goal and then more after the second people starting to walk away, cursing
the players. The atmosphere was really depressing so we didn't take any photos
and decided to head home. We watched the second half in a cyber café, where any
interest in the game had completely disappeared, even when Razak Omotoyossi
scored his ‘goal of honour'. There were a few claps here and there... Here, there's
not as much passion as in, Togo,
Ghana or Nigeria. I don't
know what happened to the pride we felt when the Squirrels qualified, but I
think a lot of people lost interest because they knew we were playing against the
biggest teams...so there was no point in getting over-excited."