GhanaWeb Feature
Read full article In May 2010, Ghana plucked one of German football’s most exciting talents. The German-born player despite appearing for the youth sides of the European powerhouses switched allegiance to Ghana.
Kevin-Prince Boateng it was. After making his Ghana debut in the pre-World Cup match against Latvia, Kelvin’s reputation soared and at the World Cup in South Africa established his name as one of Ghana’s best players.
Whereas football fans fell in love with the sheer brilliance of the attacking midfielder, his look and swag won him many lovers too with ladies hijacking his social media handles after every post.
What ensued after the 2010 World Cup rocked what appeared like a steady relationship between Kevin-Prince Boateng and Ghanaians but both parties played it well enough to ensure that Kevin, at least participated in another World Cup for Ghana.
That 2014 FIFA World Cup tournament which came with a bag of international disgrace put the final nail in the coffin of an unhealthy relationship between Kevin and Ghana.
Aside from a few times when Kevin’s name has popped up in media discussions, nothing major has happened between him and the country.
Fast forward to 2022 and Ghana has landed yet another German talent. Although his call-up came with little or no funfare (compared to Kevin’s) they both share some interesting similarities.
Like Kevin-Prince Boateng, Kofi Kyereh rose through the ranks in German football albeit with the former having built a reputation as one of the most gifted of a German football generation that had Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira and Thomas Muller.
Kyereh’s name was under the radar and the reaction to his maiden Black Stars speaks volumes of the quality that existed between him and Kevin-Prince Boateng.
The St Pauli midfielder celebrated his maiden Black Stars call-up with a video of himself racing in his spacious apartment with a Black Stars replica.
It was an eye-pleasing video but the reactions were the opposite. If Kyereh was over-joyed to receive a Ghanaian call-up, most Ghanaians were over-agitated with the opportunity offered him by then Ghana coach CK Akonnor.
Kofi-Kyere might have expected positive reactions to the nice bit of creativity he put on his social media pages but he barely got a bit of that. After all, he was a normal player in the second tier of German football who has become a beneficiary of a Ghana team bereft of the big names it once boasted of.
So even before, he kicked a ball, the jury was out on him. The doubts and pessimism were high and justifiably so. But game after game, beginning with that 1-0 win over Ethiopia in the World Cup qualifiers, he won his critics over, turning doubters into believers and pessimists into optimists.
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The Madina-born footballer is fast becoming the poster boy of the current Black Stars owing to his performance and his looks.
His stock shot up the roof in the 2021 AFCON, especially in the game against Comoros where the chips were down and players were needed to step up.
Kyereh took control and showed a part of his game that had hitherto been hidden from Ghanaians – set-piece taking.
In an area where the Black Stars have historically been at dearth, Kyereh showed adeptness. In a tournament many players came out with ruined reputations, Kyereh enhanced his and gave Ghanaians a hint of the future.
When news broke that the St Pauli midfielder was going to miss the first leg of the game against Nigeria on March 25, the same people who were least satisfied when he was first called were worried that he was going to sit out an important game.
A sign of his growing influence on the team, Kyereh’s name was trumpeted by Ghanaians after his performance in the second leg in Abuja.
Brought on alongside Elisha Owusu to be the calming figures in a team that bowed to pressure in the first half. Kyereh’s game management skill was excellent, holding on to play and frustrating the Nigerians.
Kyereh’s fast-rising reputation is not on the field alone. Helped by his ‘fresh-boy’ looks, the German-based midfielder has assumed a role previously occupied by another Ghanaian player with a German connection Kevin Prince Boateng as the Black Stars player with most ladies drooling over him.