This one's a slam dunk. The world development movement's website WhoshouldIcheerfor.com assesses teams according to 10 criteria ranging from health spending to carbon emissions and ranks them accordingly.

Ghana comes first; the US comes last. US citizens spend roughly as much on ice cream as Ghana does on education and health: imagine what they could do with their military budget. These wealth disparities aren't all America's fault (slavery didn't help, although Ghanaians played their role in that).

But Guantánamo, Iraq and Abu Ghraib are; just the first of many red cards. Ghana is Africa's last best hope of the tournament. It's got to be the black stars over the stars and stripes.

Verdict: Go, Ghana, go!