Now Ghana has finished the U.S., has seemingly all but erased the good that happened here in the previous days and weeks. But in Ghana tonight, and in the rest of Africa -- where this World Cup truly means everything, more than most of us can dare to imagine -- a different, even greater good remains. The U.S. has never made the semifinals of a modern-day World Cup, but neither has an African team. Now Africans still have a chance. They still have the Black Stars, and even now, in this empty stadium, with the lights going off and the night closing in, there are dreams. There is life. There is hope.
A country lost tonight, but a continent won.
And at this World Cup especially, that seems like a fair trade to make.