It may be early days but it seems Ghana have unearthed another scoring sensation with the stellar display of Eric Ayiah so far at the Total U-17 African Cup of Nations Gabon 2017.
Ayiah has scored five goals in two matches after grabbing a hat trick in Black Starlets’ 4-0 win against Cameroon last Sunday, as well as a brace in the 5-0 defeat of Gabon last Wednesday.
“Football is not only about scoring goals, it is also winning and I’m happy that we are winning our matches here in Gabon,” Ayiah, who doubles as captain for Black Starlets told CAFOnline.com.
He continued: “I feel so good about the goals I have scored so far in this competition but I want to thank my teammates for the support because this is all about team effort.”
After signing off from Port Gentil with two wins in as many matches, Ayiah sounded so confident about the upcoming last Group A match between Ghana and Guinea at 6.30pm tonight at the Stade de l’Amitie in Libreville, saying the Black Starlets want to keep their winning streak.
“No match is easy but I’m sure we can also beat Guinea; and that is what we are going to do,” he added, Ayiah says his staying power is prayers and Ghanaian staple food, Fufu, with palm nut soup.
In front of the goal post, Ayiah is cool, calm and collected but the Charity FC of Ghana striker said his game had gone through a lot of transformation under the guidance of Coach Samuel Fabin whom he regards as a father figure.
“I have learned so much from our coach (Samuel Fabin) because in the beginning, I was not doing well but he told me to always calm down, especially when I’m in front of goal and I’m happy everything is working well now,” explained Ayiah, who wears shirt No.6, even as a striker.
“I’m a striker but I love the No. 6 jersey because I was born on March 6, 2000 and it is also the Independence Day of Ghana, that’s why I love the No.6”
As the captain of the Black Starlets, Ayiah is leading by example with his goals partly the reason why Ghana have qualified for the semi-final stage of the Total U-17 AFCON as well as securing one of the continent’s available four tickets to the forthcoming FIFA U-17 World Cup to be hosted in India later this year.
