Ghana captain Andre Ayew is just ten games away from becoming a centurion with the Black Stars after making his senior international debut thirteen years ago under French coach Claude Le Roy.
The Swansea City forward earned his 89th and 90th caps for Ghana in the international friendlies against Mali and Qatar scoring a brace against the latter to reach 17 goals for the West African country.
On 7 August 2007, Ayew – aged 17 years at the time- was called up for the first time by Ghana coach Le Roy for the team’s friendly match against Senegal on 21 August. He made his international debut in the match appearing as a late-match substitute for Haminu Dramani. That gamed ended 1-1 at The New Den in London with Asamoah Gyan scoring for Ghana as El Hadji Diouf equalized for the Teranga Lions.
After that debut, the former Olympique de Marseille winger went on to form part of Le Roy’s 23 man squad for the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations hosted in Ghana.
The son of Abedi Ayew came on as a second half substitute for Quincy Owusu Abeyie in Ghana’s opening match against Guinea in the 76th minute as the Black Stars won 2-1 with goals from Asamoah Gyan and Sule Muntari.
Ayew started from the bench again in the second group outing of the Black Stars against Nambia as he replaced Asamoah Gyan in the 64th minute. In Ghana’s 2-0 win over Morocco he came off the bench to replace Junior Agogo in the 84th minute but did not appear in any of games from the knockout stages onward.
In February 2013, Ayew retired from international football after a dispute with the Ghana Football Association. However, he returned to the team for a World Cup qualifier against Zambia on 6 September. He then went on to start in both legs of Ghana’s 7–3 aggregate play-off defeat of Egypt to secure qualification to the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
In all the hardworking player has represented Ghana in six AFCON tournaments and has played at two FIFA World Cup events for the country of Kwame Nkrumah.
The West Ham United record signing will reach the respectable milestone of 100 games in international football if he plays in ten matches which is well within reach for the 30-year old.
All hail Andre.
