Harrison Afful: Small man,huge drive and passion

Harrison Afful is one of the highly underrated Black Stars players. The former Esperance de Tunis man played as a make shift left-back for the Black Stars when the need arose and has made the right back position his own in the past two seasons.

His performances are even much more impressive if you cord in the fact that he has played as a central midfielder at club level in the past three seasons, but still is arguably the best lateral defender Ghana has produced in the last decade. Having ended a glittering six-year stay in Tunis with Esperance this week where he won everything including the coveted CAF Champions league trophy, Harrison opened up in rare interview with Citi Sports’ Rahman Osman to talk about his stay in Tunis, Ghana’s chaotic world cup campaign in Brazil and where next the challenge lies.

It is very rare to see players of Harrison’s height (5 ft 7 in) and size (83kg) making an impact in the often physical and energy-sapping Ghanaian league. It all begun when Kotoko purchased Jordan Opoku from Fetteh Feyenoord. Surprisingly, there was a clause in the contract that allowed them to take up another player on loan from then Feyernoord now West Africa Football Academy. The Porcupine warriors reluctantly exercised that option and picked up Afful who clearly was not in the plans of coach Bashiru Hayford. Despite being very diminutive, his passion and commitment to work ethics endeared him to the teeming supporters of the Porcupine fraternity and within a year he was not only a house-hold name but a national team player.

“Off course I remember that story and for me that was the beginning of history,” Afful said. “Jordan Opoku called me one morning and asked ‘Harrison would you like to play for Kotoko? I replied and said, bro, this is a big club you are talking about and more so I have never played in the league before.'” “All he said was that ‘you have the talent and I will help you get here’ and that was it.”

“The coach was Bashiru Hayford then so in one friendly game he gave me just ten minutes of the game and after that the fans stated asking of my name.”

Having excelled with Kotoko in two seasons albeit all being on loan, Tunisian giants Esperance came calling and the temptation of going out to improve his stock was always going to be difficult to turn away from. But Afful had some unfortunate precedents as his only reference points. Two Ghanaian stars, goalkeeper Sammy Adjei and schemer Charles Taylor had failed to find their feet in the Tunisian league which was described as difficult but Afful braced the storm to win four league titles, a league cup and CAF Champions League trophy that had eluded the Bold and Red side for a half a century. Afful said for him, it was a matter of being patient and getting a good grip of his new surroundings.

“As a player everything depends on you I do not really bother my head with positions or where you are playing and all those stuff.  When you go to country first you have to study their ways and try to fit in. It’s a requirement to settle in well and get to the core duty of why you are there. Now it’s been six years already and when you look back you will see that I made a right choice back then and most importantly I delivered the CAF Champions League trophy to them. They had waited for almost 50 years for that.”

But it has not been all rosy for Afful since then, especially with respect to the national team. It has been five years and two days already since Gyan smashed his penalty against the cross bar in that epic quarter final clash against Uruguay in the 2010 World Cup but Afful has personal hurts from that period because he was curiously dropped from the team for the World Cup despite being a key member of the same side that reached the AFCON final four months earlier.

The disappointment, he says, has made him a better player. “It was a tough challenge but I think it has made me a better person. I was the only locally-based outfield player in the CAN 2010 but I had to deal with missing out of the World Cup in South Africa. Admittedly it was not easy, but I guess I had to go experience it at that stage of my life.”

“I have also had to deal with the painful memories of losing out of the Cup of Nations trophy on two occasions but I feel the same pain Ghanaians are feeling because it’s been long since Ghana won that particular tournament and that is the truth.”

One of the unspoken components about success is endurance; to work harder and train longer and Afful endured the painful experience of being left out for the world cup in South Africa. But Afful made Kwesi Appiah’s team for the World Cup in Brazil and put up a Man-of-the-Match performance against eventual World Cup winners Germany (in a 2-2 draw) but rows over bonuses ensured the Black Stars lacked both focus and commitment to progress from the group stages.

“The World Cup in Brazil was not easy. Talking about the issues with our bonuses, I say that those matters are for our bosses to deal with but I sincerely think we (as players) were ready for the competition.

We are footballers and we did our best. We did what we could but it was unfortunate and it did not meet the expectations of Ghanaians.”

Now the dust has settled on what has been truly a colorful six year stay in Tunisia and the interest now has turned to where he will be playing his football next season. With offers being made from Europe and Asia, the versatile defender says his family will be key determinants in where he ends up next. “You know I have a family and I really take what they say in consideration. Obviously the next move should challenge me and meet what I expect of a professional club. Europe is beautiful and I pray I get the opportunity try out something over there but if it does not happen I won’t look back and say I have failed.” With his future uncertain at the moment, the 25-year old looks to catch up with lost time with family as he ponders the next move in his career.