It seems a whole continent is behind Ghana as they attempt to be the first African team to make it to a World Cup semi-final. Portugal fans will not be backing Spain this weekend and I doubt there's a single England fan who's traded in his colours for those of Germany.

Out in Nelson Mandela Square in central Johannesburg, our reporter Chris Warburton and I asked a few fans why they were backing Ghana. The first man we spoke to, a South African, claimed to be a huge Ghana fan - yet he couldn't name a single player and actually admitted he didn't think they could win the Cup.

The next group of people we spoke to included a man dressed entirely in the yellow and green of Bafana Bafana...but he had a sign attached to his head pleading for someone to sell him a ticket for the Ghana match. The man sat with him was from China, and he told us that after living in Africa for more than a decade, he would only support an African team. He said it was about unity, something Europeans wouldn't understand.

We also spoke to a couple of Nigerians who had switched their allegiance, and on almost every street corner in Johannesburg, the people selling flags and vuvuzelas were waving the black star of Ghana.

In the evening we went to the Ghana press conference and Chris asked Ghana's star striker, Asamoah Gyan, about the pressure of carrying not only the hopes of a nation but the hopes of an entire continent. He told us it was not a pressure but an honour - and that no one in the whole of Africa would be backing anyone but Ghana tonight.

Carmel O'Grady is a senior producer for 5 live

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