Ghana defender Gideon Mensah has shared how playing for the country’s youth national teams shaped his career and helped him develop both as a player and an individual.
The 24-year-old, who represented Ghana at U17 and U20 levels, had the privilege of competing in major international tournaments, experiences he describes as both challenging and rewarding.
Mensah’s first international exposure came at the 2017 U17 World Cup in India, an event that proved to be both thrilling and overwhelming. Reflecting on the experience, he recalled the immense pressure of performing in front of thousands of fans. “It’s a long time ago now, but it was the first time I played around a lot of fans. I think it was 50,000 fans and the pressure was on,” he said in an exclusive interview with Flashscore. “It was a new experience compared to the Right to Dream way, because when you play for a country like Ghana, the expectations are very high. So it comes with pressure for you to perform very high as well.”
Despite the initial overwhelming pressure, Mensah grew as a player, largely due to the quality of his teammates. “I think that pressure got to me a bit, but the experience of me playing around a lot of good players helped me as well. Because then we had Mohammed Kudus, Ibrahim Sadiq, Emmanuel Toku, Eric Ayiah, and Mohammed Aminu,” he recalled. “All these guys were very experienced, top-class players. So when they were around, it felt better. I learned a lot there.”
Though Mensah’s time with the U20 team didn’t unfold as expected, he remains grateful for the lessons learned during that period. “The U20 was another experience where I developed as a player. The expectations didn’t go as we wanted. We had a lot of very, very good players in the U20, and it was very disappointing that we couldn’t go through. But that experience was also a learning curve,” he said.
Mensah, who has already represented Ghana at youth level, continues to nurture the dream of playing for the Black Stars. “It’s always an honour to represent your country, so it will be a good feeling to play for the Black Stars. If I get the chance, it will be a good feeling because I know how it felt when I played for the youth national teams.”
Currently recovering from an ACL injury that kept him sidelined for over two years, Mensah is back in training with Varberg ahead of the new season. As he continues his recovery, his dream of wearing the national team colors one day remains firmly in his sights.