Thousands of people have celebrated in Ghana as 2010 African Nations Cup silver winners, the Black Stars returned home from Angola Monday evening.

For a team riddled by injury to key players in the run-up to the tournament and which included 12 Nations Cup debutants, many in the football world have hailed Ghana’s performance as the emerging story from the competition after defying pre-tournament predictions.

The tarmac at the Kotoka International Airport was packed with fans while Accra’s streets leading to the airport were swarmed as residents cheered home their heroes, after Ghana’s final defeat to Egypt in Luanda on Sunday.

Traffic was halted as the bus carrying the team crawled past crowds lining the road from the airport.

Fans draped in red, yellow and green with the black star Ghanaian flags who had been waiting for more than two hours packed the streets and chanted as the bus swept past.

Sunday’s final was the first for Ghana since 1992 as a late goal five minutes from time halted the team’s chances of annexing a fifth Nations Cup title.