A guard of honour lined up in the chilling cold after 1:00am local time in South Africa at Ghana’s team base in Rustenburg and gave last eight finalists, the Black Stars a heroes welcome as they returned to the Sun City Hotel. Goals from Kevin-Prince Boateng and Asamoah Gyan clinched Ghana's first ever last-eight berth and only the third for an African team after Cameroon in 1990 and Senegal in 2002 as Ghana beat the United States 2-1 at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium on Saturday. Hundreds of fans lined up the streets and crammed the entrance to the hotel’s reception to welcome their heroes, the Black Stars, the only African side still in the competition. As each player strolled past the guard of honour, hotel staff handed out glasses filled wine. “I’m the happiest man in the world,” said Gyan. “I’m pleased that Africa’s happy that we qualified for the quarter-final. We have made Africa proud not Ghana alone but the whole of Africa.” The fans defied the cold and they yelled in jubilation as the players and officials filed past the guard of honour mounted with many taking the opportunity to have their shirts autographed while others took pictures. Once inside the hotel, the electrifying atmosphere was stepped up a notch as the players gathered around the reception area of the Sun City Hotel to drum the djembe and use the rattle to a great effect, treating the fans to wonderful rendition of Ghanaian battle songs. Though enough cold, the players through their wonderful performance on the field against the United States and their musical performance fired the crowd as Africa rallies behind Ghana and the world also joins in with the Black Stars making new friends which included Americans. After a great job done, Ghana did not only fly the flag of a country but for an entire continent as the dream continues. Source: Ghanafa.org