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2014 Brazil World Cup: Gotze’s Extra Time Goal Crowns Germany New World Champions

Gotze
Gotze

A gruelling 120 minutes ended with a narrow 1-0 victory for Germany as the world cup drew to a close with a glamorous final at the Maracana.

Mario Gotze’s 113th minute goal gave Germany their fourth title, drawing at par with Italy and remaining just one shy of Brazil total of five.

Substitutes Schurrle and Gotze combined for the goal, Schurrle’s cross finding Gotze in the box, who controlled with his chest and hit a first time volley past Argentina keeper Sergi Romero.

Germany and Argentina remained the last two standing at the end of a gruelling thirty days of action and the two sides locked horns in the iconic Maracana stadium for the honour of being addressed as world champions.

It did not take long for the game to heat up, a headed back pass from Toni Kroos intercepted by an unmarked Higuain. The forward incredulously dragged his shot wide, with Manuel Neuer at his mercy.

Germany kept the bulk of possession, whilst Argentina defended gallantly and hit on the counter, the pace of Higuain, Messi, and Lavessi causing the German defence all sorts of problems.

A similar fast break led to Argentina breaking the deadlock in the 30th minute, but Higuain was offside when he turned in Lavessi’s cross, leaving the scores unchanged.

Germany lifted up their game as the half wore on, particularly after Andre Schurrle was brought on for the injured Kramer. The Chelsea forward hit a thunderbolt towards goal in the 31st minute, but Romero was alert to turn it aside.

A crazy last five minutes of the half first saw Messi rampage down the right flank, but Boateng stuck to him like glue and finally managed to clear; before Howedes saw his header strike the bar just before halftime to end the first half goalless.

The second half commenced with a change from Sabella, Aguero coming on for Lavessi. And Argentina began the half with renewed purpose, Messi getting himself free down the right in the 47th, but he dragged his shot wide across the face of goal.

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VIDEO: Shakira Performs ‘La La La (Brazil 2014)’ at Brazil 2014 World Cup Closing Ceremony

From BeyondGossip.Com Shakira just performed “La La La (Brazil 2014) at the World Cup closing ceremony. Today is the Brazil 2014 World Cup Final between Germany and Argentina and there was no one better to close the glorious ceremony than Shakira. Watch her mesmerize the crowd with her performance below httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F6T29BgXzk CLICK HERE FOR MORE … Read more

Which Came First, the Chicken Or The Egg? | The Ghanaian Media, Public, and Their Fondness for the ‘Supernatural’

The media
The media

There are many issues raised by Castro’s recent disappearance, mostly concerning Ghanaian society and how we are not well equipped to effectively dealing with catastrophe of any kind. A week after Castro and Miss Bandu disappeared and we are no closer to finding either of them due to the unavailability of state of the art rescue equipment.

Another issue that has come up recently, perhaps assumed even more prominence than the fact that two people are missing, are the glut of prophets, mallams, and other supernatural agents claiming knowledge of what transpired when the mysterious disappearances occurred. Each one after the other claims exclusive knowledge, and that only they or their deity can save the situation.

I often listen to such people with little seriousness, as often their ‘prophecies’ contain contradictions and double truths that unravels under the smallest application of logical thinking.

More worrying is the fondness of the general public at large for the spewing of these people, take a walk down any street in Ghana and you would find people in serious discussion of the Castro issue honestly considering all the angles, and trying to discern whether it was really the ‘maame water’ who carried him away or it was some other spirit.

And this ‘affliction’ of my fellow countrymen is easily fuelled by the media, leading to more and more discussion of such issues. It did not take long after Castro’s disappearance for these spiritual people to come out of the woodwork to make their claims, and the truth is the radio and TV stations are happy to accommodate them because Ghanaians buy into that kind of theories, thus that is what sells.

That leads to my question at the top of this piece, which comes first, the chicken or the egg? Is it the fondness of the Ghanaian public for the supernatural that has led to the media always concentrating on those elements in the event of a tragedy, or is it by always harping on those elements that the media keep the Ghanaian people super invested in that element of the supernatural world.

Obviously Ghanaians are big on religion; therefore we tend to lean more towards explanations of events from the realms beyond those of us mere mortals. Yet by the media continuing to give prominence to such issues, it creates a self-perpetuating cycle which is unlikely to be broken thus leading Ghana further and further away from the positivist and towards the mystical.

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Having an Affair with Someone’s Husband | Acceptable or Not?

black woman

Dear Chris-Vincent,

As a woman who grew up in Ghana before moving to the United States, one thing I have always known and be told is not to go near the husband of another woman. Personally, I think a woman can sleep with whoever she pleases if her conscience does not pull the guilty plug on her but when it comes to someone’s husband, that is a big NO.

I am writing this in response to the on going debate on your blog-GhanaCelebrities.Com about whether it was right or wrong that Janet Bandu was messing with Castro, knowing he was the husband of another woman living in Canada.

I have always told my friends that, women are our own enemies and things men will not do to themselves or their friends, we will do it to other women without thinking twice.

I do not have to be really worried about my husband’s friends hitting on me because men seems to have this rule that, they should not mess with the wife of another especially if the woman is their friend’s wife or someone they know.

But I cannot say the same for women. I cannot leave my husband with some of my friends (in fact almost all my friends) without having to have my eyes at my back. Women do not know of loyalty and the slightest mistake you will make, some will be sleeping with your man including your own friends or sisters. That is how bad things have become and it is getting worse with African women as the days go by.

It is therefore not shocking to me that some readers think it was not really a big deal that Janet Bandu was on a weekend trip with Castro and friends, knowing that Castro was married. She did not seem to care and so does some of the readers.

I have heard women say, one woman’s husband is another woman’s boyfriend which suggests that, it does matter if a man is married or not, you can have your share of him.

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Castro Has Been Gone for 1 Week | What We Know & What We Don’t Know So Far…

Castro de destroyer
Castro de destroyer

On 6th July, 2014 (exactly a week ago) Ghanaian musician-Castro De Destroyer (real name Theophilus Tagoe) was reported missing with his alleged girlfriend-Janet Bandu while jet skiing on the Ada river—after having gone there with his football star friend, Asamoah Gyan.

Even though the news of Castro’s disappearance which quickly turned into death appeared online at around 14:00 GMT, we’ve so far learnt that, Castro and Janet may have gone missing far earlier—at around 10am since their empty Jet Ski was found near an island at around 11-12:00 GMT.

It has been alleged that Castro De Destroyer was wearing a life jacket but Janet Bandu who sat at the back of the Jet Ski was not wearing any. And the question has been, if indeed he was wearing a life jacket, how come he has gone missing (drowned)?

Interestingly, the above question paved way for several assumptions such as, Castro took off his life jacket to save Janet and consequently, Castro the rescuer got drowned with Janet.

So far, this remains a possible hypothesis, because no one can claim to have seen this happening—and also, if he took the life jacket off, where did it go? It was only a keyless Jet Ski that was found at the other end of the estuary where Castro and Janet were believed to have drowned.

The Many Theories

Castro and Janet Bandu’s death or missing (if you are one of those who like such to be said) has been surrounded by countless theories—both reasonable and unreasonable. The assumptions are countless but the facts are just a few, making the disappearance or death a mystery.

Some have come out to say, the two are with a certain sea goddess (popularly known as Maame Water in Ghana)—who even told us such a spirit or personality exists? Again, the existence of such a spirit has not been established, except being claimed by some people who present themselves as having some sort of connection with this spirit…

The absence of any logical, reasonable and scientific explanation as to what happened means, the absurd theories will continue to unfold.

Apart from the two having been said to be ‘chilling’ with Maame Water while we worry about them on earth, others have come to say, they must have been abducted. And the question should be, by whom and for what?

Also, some have come out strongly to say Janet Bandu is a marine spirit herself, and she was sent to the earth to help bring Castro to the underwater world.

There is a group of people who also believe, the whole Castro and Janet’s disappearance was an attempt at pulling a publicity stunt for Castro—but it got out of hands, making it difficult for Castro and Janet to come out of their hiding place. Pretty plausible but hugely ridiculous…

The Many Blame Games

For whatever disaster that befalls anyone in this world, someone must be blamed and if we cannot reasonably find anyone to blame, we sometimes even push the blame on the back of nature.

While Janet Bandu’s family has been blaming Castro for being responsible for their daughter’s demise, some people have also been calling Janet Bandu’s family irresponsible—for not even knowing the whereabouts of their daughter at any point in time.

As the two families sit on each other’s neck, shifting blame from one corner to another, the general Ghanaian population also needed to blame someone. As usual, it started from blaming President Mahama and to be frank, I don’t know how President Mahama can be blamed for anything in connection with this…

But then, if Jordan Ayew has been brought in as the cause of Castro’s death, it is not shocking that President Mahama has been apportioned a blame too.

According to those blaming Jordan Ayew, if the footballer had passed the ball to Asamoah Gyan in the Ghana vrs Germany match, Asamoah would have scored—and that would have meant that, Ghana would have still be part of the on-going 2014 Brazil World Cup.

And if Ghana was in there, Asamoah Gyan would have been in Brazil by now. Meaning, there was no way Castro would have been dead or be at Ada because it was Asamoah Gyan who invited or took him there. What a long chain of events just to blame Jordan Ayew…

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Dutch Ease Past Brazil in Third Place Game with Humiliating 3-0 Victory

Brazil vrs Netherlands
Brazil vrs Netherlands

An early goal set the Netherlands on its way to a humiliating 3-0 win over hosts Brazil in their world cup third place play-off.

The much maligned third place encounter kicked off between these sides after disappointing semi final losses for both, for hosts Brazil’s a humiliating 7-1 loss to Germany.

And they suffered another, falling to three goals from the Dutch whilst mustering little in the way of a response.

Any plans to exorcise the ghosts of Tuesday flew out the window as early as the 2nd minute, after a van Persie through ball sent Robben clean through, skipper Silva bringing him down for the referee to point to the spot.

Robin van Persie made no mistake, burying the penalty into the top right corner.

Again Brazil had conceded the early goal, and they poured forward indiscriminately in search of the equaliser, leading to fast breaks for the Dutch reminiscent of Brazil’s 7-1 loss, yet they managed to hang on this time.

The best Brazil could offer were from crosses on the left, but Jo in the middle failed to trap his crosses well, thus they threatened little throughout the half, even after the Dutch went 2-0 up.

Robben’s through ball sent De Guzman free down the right, his not too good cross falling to David Luiz; but the defender’s clearance was poor, his header setting up Danny Blind who hammered into the roof of the net.

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