Despite his Ghanaian heritage, Kofi Danning will be ecstatic if Australia prevails in its crunch World Cup game against the west-African nation tonight.
Should Ghana triumph though, the former Canberra junior will be just as happy.
For one of Australia's brightest prospects, the dazzling Sydney FC striker being groomed as a next-generation Socceroo, both countries present a strong case for Danning's support.
The 19-year-old was born in Ghana and spent his infancy kicking a soccer ball around the streets of Kumasi.
Here he developed an impressive array of skill with the round ball, honing a seemingly endless supply of talent which would ultimately shape his future.
A future which began to emerge at seven years of age when Danning moved to Canberra.
''It's a lot different,'' Danning said. ''Football's life over in Ghana. If Ghana wins it's like a public holiday on that day, that's how serious it is, the passion over there is amazing.
''As a kid it was always exciting because you could always do new things and learn new things with the ball.''
Danning plans to watch tonight's game in Darling Harbour with Sydney teammate Sebastian Ryall.
Australia must win to give itself a fighting chance of progressing to the second round, and that means vastly improving on Monday morning's woeful performance in the 4-0 loss to Germany.
Just hours earlier, Ghana had signalled its group D intentions with a 1-0 win over Serbia, watched by a delirious Danning prior to the Socceroos' debacle.
Due to Australia's precarious standing in the tournament, Danning said a Socceroos victory tonight would be the ideal result, but he knew it wouldn't come unless there was vast improvement.
''The only way Australia's going to win is if they attack, holding back is not going to do anything for them,'' Danning said.
''Ghana has very good attacking players and that's the problem with Australia, their defence isn't as quick as [Ghana's] attackers which makes it hard for us to pursue.
''I reckon they'll still play the same system, Australia trusts their system a lot so I think they'll still play one striker but they need a big striker like [Josh] Kennedy.
''Pim chose a completely different squad [against Germany] to what he'd been playing in the qualifiers and a lot of people can't understand that.
''He should start with the key players.''
No matter what the result tonight, Australia's batch of ageing stars will take one step closer to international retirement.
For more, pick up a copy of today's Canberra Times
Source: The Canberra Times
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