Obama, Ghana leader affirm 'strong ties,' will trade team jerseys

President Barack Obama, engaged in international diplomacy at the G-20 summit in Toronto, is keeping one eye on the U.S. team's play against Ghana in the World Cup on Saturday.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs released a statement moments before the game begin, saying that Obama and Ghana President John Atta Mills were "eagerly anticipating" the game.

In the statement, Gibbs said Obama and Mills will trade jerseys of their countries' teams, following a tradition still employed by playing teams' captains.

"They reaffirm the strong ties between the people of our two countries, including our shared passion on the soccer field, and have agreed that when they next meet they will exchange team jerseys in the spirit of camaraderie and sportsmanship that they look forward to seeing on the playing field later today," Gibbs said.

Obama met with the U.S. team before they departed before South Africa. Earlier this week, the president phoned the team to congratulate them on winning their group after they defeated Algeria on Wednesday.