{"id":282782,"date":"2011-02-26T17:55:15","date_gmt":"2011-02-26T17:55:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/02\/26\/ghanas-homeless-world-cup-captain-finds-new-life\/"},"modified":"2011-02-26T17:55:15","modified_gmt":"2011-02-26T17:55:15","slug":"ghanas-homeless-world-cup-captain-finds-new-life-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/26\/ghanas-homeless-world-cup-captain-finds-new-life-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Ghana&#8217;s Homeless World Cup Captain Finds New Life"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div>Since captaining his Ghana teammates at the Rio 2010 Homeless World Cup, Usman Musah has focused on leading himself toward a better future.<\/p>\n<p>A fleet footed attacker with a plethora of ball skills and pace to burn, Usman was nicknamed \u2018Atwentwe\u2019 by his team-mates, translating literally as \u2018The Dribbler\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>However Usman, a likable character with natural leadership qualities, saw little direction or joy in his life prior to the tournament. Though he was excited to be selected for the Ghana team and honoured to be nominated as captain, Usman lived in the shadow of a dark and tragic past. As a child Usman\u2019s parents were both killed as a result of violent tribal conflict in Ghana. He was left orphaned and completely dependent on the charity of his friends and family.<\/p>\n<p>An avid and talented footballer, he became involved in the \u201dGimat Volunteer Networt\u201d, a Homeless World Cup national partner project based in the Ghanaian capital Accra. Through the organisation he was selected to represent his country at the Rio 2010 Homeless World Cup as Ghana achieved a record-breaking 8th place finish.<\/p>\n<p>In the six months which have passed since he and his teammates returned glorious from Rio, Usman has been inspired to pursue a happy future and overcome the memories of his childhood.<\/p>\n<p>He said: \u201dIn my life, I have never thought of travelling and having such a unique opportunity to meet people from different countries with different backgrounds. People who can sympathise with the challenges I have faced since my mum and dad died. \u201dAfter Rio my attitude towards life has changed. I have altered my perspectives and looked to the promise of the future. I am no longer homeless and I have now settled down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With the assistance of the \u201dGimat Volunteer Network\u201d Usman has set up his own small business selling phones and accessories. Usman uses his income to rent a room and no longer needs to depend on the good will of others. He said: \u201cI am now an independent person who sees the future to be bright. \u201cI thank the organisers of the Homeless World Cup and the people that made it possible for me to take part in this tournament. I hope they continue to enable others to change their lives for the better.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Here is the original post:<br \/>\n<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/sports.peacefmonline.com\/soccer\/201102\/138949.php\" title=\"Ghana's Homeless World Cup Captain Finds New Life\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ghana&#8217;s Homeless World Cup Captain Finds New Life<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Since captaining his Ghana teammates at the Rio 2010 Homeless World Cup, Usman Musah has focused on leading himself toward a better future. A fleet footed attacker with a plethora of ball skills and pace to burn, Usman was nicknamed \u2018Atwentwe\u2019 by his team-mates, translating literally as \u2018The Dribbler\u2019. However Usman, a likable character with natural leadership qualities, saw little direction or joy in his life prior to the tournament<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-282782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ghana&#039;s Homeless World Cup Captain Finds New Life - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/26\/ghanas-homeless-world-cup-captain-finds-new-life-2\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Ghana&#039;s Homeless World Cup Captain Finds New Life - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Since captaining his Ghana teammates at the Rio 2010 Homeless World Cup, Usman Musah has focused on leading himself toward a better future. A fleet footed attacker with a plethora of ball skills and pace to burn, Usman was nicknamed \u2018Atwentwe\u2019 by his team-mates, translating literally as \u2018The Dribbler\u2019. However Usman, a likable character with natural leadership qualities, saw little direction or joy in his life prior to the tournament\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/26\/ghanas-homeless-world-cup-captain-finds-new-life-2\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/26\/ghanas-homeless-world-cup-captain-finds-new-life-2\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Ghana&#8217;s Homeless World Cup Captain Finds New Life\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-02-26T17:55:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/26\/ghanas-homeless-world-cup-captain-finds-new-life-2\/\"},\"wordCount\":403,\"commentCount\":0,\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/26\/ghanas-homeless-world-cup-captain-finds-new-life-2\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/26\/ghanas-homeless-world-cup-captain-finds-new-life-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/26\/ghanas-homeless-world-cup-captain-finds-new-life-2\/\",\"name\":\"Ghana's Homeless World Cup Captain Finds New Life - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-02-26T17:55:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/26\/ghanas-homeless-world-cup-captain-finds-new-life-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ghana's Homeless World Cup Captain Finds New Life - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/26\/ghanas-homeless-world-cup-captain-finds-new-life-2\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Ghana's Homeless World Cup Captain Finds New Life - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"Since captaining his Ghana teammates at the Rio 2010 Homeless World Cup, Usman Musah has focused on leading himself toward a better future. A fleet footed attacker with a plethora of ball skills and pace to burn, Usman was nicknamed \u2018Atwentwe\u2019 by his team-mates, translating literally as \u2018The Dribbler\u2019. However Usman, a likable character with natural leadership qualities, saw little direction or joy in his life prior to the tournament","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/26\/ghanas-homeless-world-cup-captain-finds-new-life-2\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/26\/ghanas-homeless-world-cup-captain-finds-new-life-2\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Ghana&#8217;s Homeless World Cup Captain Finds New Life","datePublished":"2011-02-26T17:55:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/26\/ghanas-homeless-world-cup-captain-finds-new-life-2\/"},"wordCount":403,"commentCount":0,"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/26\/ghanas-homeless-world-cup-captain-finds-new-life-2\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/26\/ghanas-homeless-world-cup-captain-finds-new-life-2\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/26\/ghanas-homeless-world-cup-captain-finds-new-life-2\/","name":"Ghana's Homeless World Cup Captain Finds New Life - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-02-26T17:55:15+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/26\/ghanas-homeless-world-cup-captain-finds-new-life-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282782\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}