Crew’s Ghanians to miss World Cup
A sleepy Jonathan Mensah stirred in his hotel room in South Africa close to midnight on June 18, 2010, wondering who was knocking at his door.
He opened the door to find Ghana national team manager Milovan Rajevac, accompanied by an assistant coach and an interpreter, staring back at him.
“They’re like, ‘Hey, Jonny, how are you?’ ” Mensah said. “I’m like, ‘I’m sleepy.’ ”
The group explained that captain John Mensah (no relation) and another defender were dealing with injuries after Ghana’s 2010 World Cup opener against Serbia, meaning the 19-year-old Mensah would make his World Cup debut against Australia the following day.
“It made me nervous. I couldn’t sleep for like two hours,” Mensah said. “After the two hours of processing it, Crew SC at Revolution When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday TV: Ch. 53, Spectrum Sports Radio: WWCD-FM (102.5) I went to bed and the next day I was a bit calm. Once the game started, the (other players) saw I was playing fine and it was good.”
Mensah, now in his second year as a defender for Crew SC, went on to make two more starts in 2010 for Ghana, which became just the third African team to reach the World Cup quarterfinals.
Nations participating in the 2018 World Cup released their preliminary rosters this week, building excitement for some and perhaps serving as a painful reminder for some of unsuccessful qualifying campaigns.
A run of three consecutive World Cups for Ghana ended when it finished third in its qualifying group behind Egypt and Uganda, but for the Crew’s Mensah, a two-time World Cup veteran, and right back Harrison Afful, who was on Ghana’s 2014 squad, the memories of previous tournaments loom large.
Afful’s debut in 2014 came a game later than expected. Daniel Opare started over him at right back in a 2-1 loss to the United States before Afful got his opportunity.
“Everything happens for a reason. When we lost our first game to the U.S., everybody in Ghana was talking about me, about why I didn’t start the game,” Afful said. “It brought a lot of pressure on our coach (James Kwesi Appiah) and also the team, so he started me against Germany and, for me, I think I was always ready.”
He showed it early in the second half against Germany, providing a perfect cross to set up Andre Ayew for a tying goal in the 54th minute. Ghana finished with a 2-2 tie, an impressive result in an unimpressive World Cup run. Ghana failed to make it out of the group stage and Germany went on to win its fourth World Cup.
Said Afful of Ghana’s 2018 qualifying disappointment: “Such is life. Life still goes on.”
He and Mensah will watch other nations compete next month before shifting their focus to the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. After that, the 2022 World Cup is a focus, but both know nothing is guaranteed in soccer. Afful will be 35 in 2022. He said he will pay attention to the year, not his age.
“When you think about your age, it slows you down and so I have to keep going,” he said. “This is the job I chose and I enjoy it, so I just have to keep playing.”