“The 2009 U-20 World Cup Is Still The Most Beautiful Moment Of My Career”- Andre Ayew

The Black Satellites of Ghana conquered a Brazil side featuring Maicon in the final on penalties in Egypt in October 2009.
By defeating Brazil in the final (0-0, 4-3 on penalties), Ghana made history by winning the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt that year.

Current Black Stars captain Andre Ayew was on the team, and he still has very happy memories of that memorable victory. It is “still the most beautiful moment of my career,” the 33-year-old Ayew revealed.

Andre Ayew said in a recent interview on 1st May with FIFA+ that, winning the trophy at the time has given them, the most honor and the most pride.

“No one expected us to win, because no African country had ever been world champions in that age category. It remains the best moment of my career. I can still picture the scenes that greeted our return to Ghana. The whole country was buzzing. It’s for those kinds of moments that we play football”.

“I’ve enjoyed some great victories over my career, but that trophy is on a whole other level for what it represents for Ghana and the entire continent”.

When asked about his team’s preparation against their rivals Brazil, Ayew said:

“Ghana has a special history with Brazil when it comes to youth football. Even before my time, meetings between the two teams were always tense. To be honest, we didn’t want to play the Seleçao in an earlier round as they were the best team in the tournament”.

The Black Satellites didn’t want to give up the chance to make history because they were aware that they could. According to Ayew, they told themselves that they needed only 90 or 120 minutes to win the world championship.

🇧🇷 Ganso, Giuliano, Douglas Costa & Co were favourites to win Brazil a 5th #U20WC crown #OnThisDay in 2009 🖐️

🇬🇭 Despite playing much of the game at a numerical disadvantage, however, @AyewAndre, Dominic Adiyiah & team-mates won on penalties to crown Ghana for the 1st time 🏆 pic.twitter.com/X1stfNR3Mw

— FIFA (@FIFAcom) October 16, 2021
As captain of the national team, at what point did you realise you could go all the way?

“Our opening fixture against Uzbekistan was really difficult and a very close game. In fact, they opened the scoring before we came back to win. The victory allowed us to shake off our inhibitions as we then beat England 4-0. After our quarter-final win over Korea Republic, I was in the dining area with Jonathan Mensah, Mohammed Rabiu, Samuel Inkoom, Emmanuel Badu and Daniel Opare. I looked at them and said, ‘Guys, we can bring this cup back to Ghana.”

“We were about to play Hungary in the semis, and at this stage of a competition, it’s the team who wants it more that wins. By then, we were growing in experience, applying ourselves more in training, being more attentive in team-talks – all of which was reflected in our mindset. We were there for each other, and that’s what made the difference”.

Ayew seamlessly continued this success with the senior team, the Black Stars Of Ghana, after winning the final against Brazil. Just a few months later, Ayew and four of his U-20 teammates—Daniel Agyei, Samuel Inkoom, Jonathan Mensah, and Dominic Adiyiah—made it to the quarterfinals of South Africa 2010!

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Ayew and his teammates made it all the way to the final of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola, which came before the World Cup in South Africa. Nine of the Stars’ U-20 World Cup winners were in Egypt when the game came down to the dying minutes, and Egypt won.

“We were on the verge of achieving a historic double. The fact that we were so united at the U-20 World Cup helped us tremendously. We knew each other and that showed at the World Cup in South Africa. We were playing at home, so to speak, in our continent, so we could not disappoint. We were ready and had more full internationals under our belt, so it was no surprise that we made it all the way to the quarters. We could have gone further, but it’s part of our history now”, Ayew revealed.

Ayew stated that the upcoming U-20 World Cup in Argentina will be a competitive event when questioned about it. The competition has four African teama in there, and talking about their possibilities, the Black Stars captain said:

“When it comes to football, the African continent is united, which is a blessing. Senegal are in excellent form – they’re African champions and have some real “cracks” in their team. As for the Gambia, I greatly admire the work their federation is doing. We witnessed a very strong Gambia side at the last AFCON, and I know that their youth teams are formidable. Without much fuss, Tunisia have assembled a tenacious side, while Nigeria never show up at an underage World Cup without aspirations of a podium finish. May the best team win and bring honour to the continent!