Sports News of Saturday, 8 July 2023

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

How the love of 'gob3' made young Stephen Appiah abandon school for football   

Ex-Black Stars skipper Stephen Appiah Ex-Black Stars skipper Stephen Appiah

Former Ghanaian international Stephen Appiah has narrated how he had to abandon school for the love of beans ‘gob3” through his friend called YZ.  

According to Appiah, his pal, YX convinced him to skip school on one fateful day so they could enjoy eating ‘gob3’ together.  

Narrating his story, Appiah said that faithful day was his breaking through pursuing his football dreams when he was spotted by an unknown man who recommended him for a club. 

“I was on my way home and I met my friend called YX, a friend from an affluent home and he is now a musician. He asked if I will go to school today and I said yes then he requested we both abandon school so we go and eat beans and plantain together at Salvation Park and that was my first time”, he told Muftawu Nabila on JoySports.

“The moment I heard that, I told myself this is an opportunity since I had nothing on me to buy food so I followed him and we went to the park, there we saw some kids playing football then he said I should join the guys. I took off my uniform and I joined the game and that was when I saw this man who stood about 25 meters from the venue and after the game, he came and asked me to join a colt’s football club at Mamprobi, Indafa”, he added.

Appiah who was the first captain to qualify Ghana for the first World Cup in Germany, in 2006.

Appiah, 42, played for Ghana’s U17 and U20 before making his debut for the Black Stars in 1995 and retired in 2010 after the World Cup in South Africa, where capped 67 times for the Black Stars and scored 14 times.

In May 2017, Appiah was named by the Ghana Football Association (GFA) as the Team Manager for the Black Stars where he was for the first time given the chance to serve as a technical member of the team after retiring from football. 

LSN/OGB