Ghanaian defender Gideon Mensah has shared how playing for the country’s youth national teams was a valuable learning experience.
The 24-year-old represented Ghana at the U17 and U20 levels, participating in major tournaments that shaped his football career.
Mensah’s first taste of international football came at the 2017 U17 World Cup in India, an experience he admits was overwhelming but instrumental in his growth as a player.
“It was a huge stage, and it came with a lot of pressure, but it helped me learn and grow,” Mensah remarked. His time with the youth teams laid a solid foundation for his journey to the senior national team.
“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 told Flashscore in an exclusive interview.
“It was a new a new experience compared to the Right to Dream way, because when you play for a country like Ghana, the expectations are very high like. So it comes with pressure for you to perform very high as well.”
Mensah admits the pressure of playing for the youth teams affected him in the beginning but he later improved due to the quality he was surrounded by.
“I think that pressure got to me a bit, but the experience of me playing around with a lot of good players helped me as well. Because then we had the Mohammed Kudus, Ibrahim Sadiq, Emmanuel Toku, Eric Ayiah, and Mohammed Aminu.”
“All these guys were very experienced guy, top class players. So when they were around, it felt better.I learned a lot there,” he added.
Though his stint with the U20 team didn’t go according to plan, Mensah was appreciative of the experience.
“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.”
Having already represented Ghana at youth level, Mensah holds close the dream of one day playing for the national team.
“I learned a lot with the U17 team, especially at the World Cup. The experience of playing around with a lot of good players like Ibrahim Sadiq, Mohammed Kudus, and Eric Ayiah helped me a lot. The U20 was another experience because I improved as a player.
“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.”
Mensah, who has been out of action for more than two years after sustaining an ACL injury, is back training with Varberg ahead of the new season.
