NUREMBURG, Germany ? If you think playing for national pride adds drama to the World Cup, check out the team playing for an entire continent.

In this World Cup, Ghana surprisingly has stepped into the role of African standard-bearer. The Ghanaians pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament in beating the Czech Republic, and now a victory over the United States today in the final game of group play would send them into the next round.

ADVERTISEMENT"It means a lot," Ghana captain Stephen Appiah said. "People didn't expect us to play like the way we played. I think all Ghanaians are happy, not only for Ghana but for the African continent as well."

Ghana has certainly caught the attention of the U.S. team, whose clearest opportunity to advance to the second round is to beat Ghana and hope Italy beats the Czech Republic.

The story of African soccer is much like the African nations themselves: abundant resources squandered by organizational dysfunction. The best African World Cup result came when Cameroon's Indomitable Lions roared to the semifinals in 1990. Ghana, which became the continent's first country to win independence from European colonizers five decades ago, is the home of Abedi Pele, recipient of the first African Footballer of the Year award in 1992. It's also the birthplace of Freddy Adu, the prodigy who joined Major League Soccer at 14.

Yet Ghana never competed for the World Cup until this year. The talented group led by Michael Essien (who plays for Chelsea in the English Premier League) is getting it done for Coach Ratomir Dujkovic.

When the Serbian Dujkovic took over the team's reins a year ago, he used everything from game DVDs to man-on-the-street talks to learn the essence of Ghanaian soccer and determine what needed to change. His solution: Players arriving late to team functions could expect to find the exhaust from a departing bus.

"There are no stars on the [field]," Dujkovic said. "Everybody's the same."

But only two of them have scored goals in this World Cup ? Sulley Muntari and Asamoah Gyan ? and both are suspended for today's game against the U.S. after receiving two yellow cards. That hasn't stopped Ghana from talking tough.

They openly discuss a trip to the semifinals. They welcome a potential matchup with superpower Brazil. Dujkovic earlier in the week said the U.S. "will suffer." And Appiah said at Wednesday's news conference: "We're going to miss those guys, but our roster, we are 23-strong. All the guys, they are ready to die for the nation."

For fans of the "Black Stars," the game might not be life or death, but it means more than just football.

Koffi Gamedi was born in Togo to a Ghanaian father and has lived in Germany for 10 years. As he stood outside the team hotel in Wurzburg, he hoped that the Ghanaian team's performance "will change the thinking of people here about Africans, and [show] that they can contribute. Not to say the rubbish that you see on TV, about refugees and civil wars.

"When you are from Black Africa you are not considered like one from South Africa or North Africa. Now, maybe it's a chance for us to win the title. Then maybe you get more respect."

The Ghanaians received love and respect from the people of Wurzburg from the day they arrived to their World Cup home base. Schoolchildren made posters and handmade flags. The tiny Ghanaian population in this city of 133,000 dropped by the hotel "to let them know they are family, they are welcome," Vivian Yevuuya Alba said.

Even in the jubilant hours after Germany beat Ecuador on Tuesday, with German flags flapping from car windows as the locals drove victory laps around town, they'd slow down as they passed the team hotel and shout "Ghana! Ghana!"

Fans with their faces painted in the German colors of black, red and yellow approached Essien and his teammates for autographs and pictures as the players sat on a restaurant patio across the street.

"It's very special," Gamedi said. "Nobody thinks if they are black or white. They are famous. Everybody wants to touch them."

During the Czech Republic game, Appiah heard fans chanting "Ghana! Ghana!" He looked up and saw they were German. He asked a teammate why this was happening. The response: "We're playing good football, that's why."

U.S. midfielder Claudio Reyna said of Ghana: "They seem to play better when they get into a rhythm and their confidence grows, as any team would.

"Especially them. They seem to gain momentum if things are going well. We have to frustrate them and then create chances. I think the chances will be there. We'll see how the game goes."

Reyna and Coach Bruce Arena said that if they win but don't get the proper help in the other game they need to advance, they'd still consider this World Cup a successful trip. And America will still be America.

For Ghana, a loss would send them back home with the other African teams ? Ivory Coast, Togo and Angola.

Win, and it could be the start of something special. "I hope that we will go far," Appiah said. "That we will make our name."