Almost a fortnight ago, Emmanuel Boateng made the headlines after scoring a hat-trick against big boys Barcelona in a LaLiga match which saw his side Levante ran away with a 5-4 victory.
The 21-year-old striker has since won huge admiration and praises from his countrymen – not only for the feat which last occurred 13 years ago but also for scoring against Real Madrid with both coming in his debut season in Spain.
Prior to scoring three against the LaLiga champions who had gone unbeaten, Boateng had received his maiden invite to the Ghana senior national team for friendlies against Japan and Iceland.
And after enjoying his first training with the Black Stars Tuesday, students of the Presbyterian Secondary School in Legon, whose facilities the national team has adopted, mobbed their new found hero.
Amidst cheers and applause, one of the students shouted in pidgin:
“E be you score Barcelona three?”
As he walked on, Boateng could only turn with a huge smile on his face.
‘’I am delighted with the massive support I have received from Ghanaians. it feels good.
‘’It encourages me to work hard and help the team achieve its objective,’’ he said in a subsequent interview with reporters.
Touching on international duties, Boateng, who was a member of the Ghana team at the 2015 U-20 World Cup, added: ‘’I am very excited coach [Kwasi Appiah] invited me for the friendlies. It has always been my dream to play for the Black Stars.’’
Boateng has been on my radar
According to Ghana coach Kwasi Appiah, Boateng’s call-up has been long coming.
“I started monitoring Emmanuel Boateng last year when I came [back for the second time as Black Stars coach],” he said.
Appiah added: “He wasn’t starting in the first round so I decided to leave him out. In the second round, he started coming in from the bench and then he got more playing time. That was when I decided that it is important to give him a chance to come and see whether he can be part of our team.”
Emmanuel Boateng is part of Ghana’s 21-man squad for the double header international friendlies against Japan and Iceland on May 30 and June 7 respectively.
