Arsenal FC priceless jewel, Thomas Partey has been carrying Ghana’s World Cup Dreams on his shoulders with scintillating performances for the West African giant.
The former Atletico Madrid midfielder has brought change in fortune for the Stars after he returned from injury to feature for the first time in the 2022 World Cup Qualifiers for the Black Stars.
In Partey’s absence during the opening two matches of the qualifying campaign, Ghana were uninspired in their narrow win over Ethiopia at the Cape Coast stadium last month through a goalkeeper howler following a long range harmless shot by Mubarak Wakaso.
Ghana subsequently lost their second game in Johannesburg against the Bafana Bafana of South Africa, condeding from a comedy of errors at the back of defense.
Fast-forward to October international break with the English Premier League player available for the Stars and everything was almost perfect for Ghana with Partey’s inclusion in the team.
In a dicey encounter with Zimbabwe at the Cape Coast stadium in Ghana, and when things were looking difficult for Ghana, the Arsenal star rose to the occasion to save Ghana from a heartbreak to revive their qualification hopes.
Partey took matters into his hands when the game was 1-1 with Ghana in need of a hero to manuoerver his way into the goal area with ease after going past series of defenders to expertly place the ball into the bottom left corner to restore the Black Stars one goal advantage to set them up for victory.
Ayew, the captain of the team and Ajax Amsterdam star Kudus Mohammed were the other goal scorers when Ghana won 3-1 but it was Partey’s goal that changed the face of the match as the Stars picked their second win of the campaign with Partey being the master inspirer.
On Tuesday afternoon at the Harare International Sports Stadium in Zimbabwe, the 28-year-old boxto modern midfielder scored a scorcher of a free-kick in the 31st minute of the match to secure a vital and crucial win away win to get Ghana in a good position to top their group if they win in Ethiopia and beat South Africa in the last game in Ghana.
His presence in the Ghana team did not go unnoticed and his goals proved very important for Ghana in both matches against the Warriors of Zimbabwe who are now languishing at the bottom of the table with 1 point from 4 games.
Partey has never scored in a game which ends in a defeat for the Stars and has 12 goals for Ghana despite playing at the heart of midfield in most cases.
He has also scored in all four games he’s led the team as the captain with the fourth being his sumptuous free-kick against Zimbabwe on Tuesday afternoon which sent Ghana to nine points from four matches with two games to go and just a point behind South Africa.
His presence in the team was hughely felt in the two games and could be very vital in Ghana’s quest to make their fourth appearance at the biggest football Mundial next year in Qatar.
Ghana will play Ethiopia in Addis Ababa and and South Africa in Ghana and Partey will be needed to augment the Milovan Rajevac’s team as he has established himself as a pivot in the team.
Victory for Ghana in both games will seal a place in the playoffs spot where the Stars will be paired with a winner of another group in a two-legged games with the winner sealing a spot in the FIFA World Cup in Qatar next year.
