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RUSTENBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – JUNE 26: Asamoah Gyan of Ghana celebrates victory with Sulley Muntari of Ghana during the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Round of Sixteen match between USA and Ghana at Royal Bafokeng Stadium on June 26, 2010 in Rustenburg, South Africa. (Photo by Phil Cole/Getty Images) |
Siphiwe Tshabalala (born 25 September 1984) is a South African professional footballer. Tshabalala plays as a winger for Kaizer Chiefs in the Premier Soccer League. Tshabalala is also a member of the South African national team.
He hails from Phiri, Soweto.
He made his national team debut in a friendly against Egypt on 14 January 2006.
Tshabalala was part of the South African squad at 2006 African Nations Cup, 2008 African Nations Cup and the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.
On 11 June 2010, gaining his 50th cap for South Africa, he scored the first goal of the 2010 FIFA World Cup against Mexico in the 55th minute, followed by an elaborately rehearsed celebration.
Richard Paul Franck Kingson (née Kingston, born 13 June 1978 in Accra), also known as Faruk Gürsoy, is an association football player who plays as agoalkeeper. He is currently playing for Wigan Athletic, having been released from his contract with the then English Championship club Birmingham City. He represents the Ghana national football team as an international.
Kingson is the starting goalkeeper of the Ghana national football team, and was called up for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations and the2010 Africa Cup of Nations.
During the 2006 World Cup, the Ghanaian FA stated that his name is Kingston; however, the player’s shirt used the correct spelling of his name, as confirmed by Kingson himself.
He was voted as an All-Star Goalkeeper during the 2008 African Cup of Nations Tournament in Ghana. The Team of the Tournament was decided by the Technical Study Group (TSG) after careful observations of all the tournament’s matches.
In 2008, he scored a goal for Ghana in a friendly – a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw against Tanzania.
As first-choice goalkeeper and team captain he was instrumental in leading Ghana to the final of the 2010 tournament, and was again selected for the all-star team along with Egypt custodian Essam El-Hadary.
In the 2010 World Cup in South Africa Kingston was selected in Ghanas opening game against Serbia.
Kingson is the brother of Laryea Kingston, who is also a member of the Ghana national team. He is a naturalised citizen of Turkey and his Turkish name is Faruk Gürsoy.
Asamoah Gyan (born 22 November 1985 in Accra) is a Ghanaian International football player who plays as a striker for Stade Rennais in the French Ligue 1. He had his high school education at Accra Academy where he played in the school’s soccer team.
He is the first Ghanaian Player ever to score a goal at the FIFA World Cup Finals. He also scored the fastest goal in the World Cup 2006. A spectacular one too.
Gyan scored the fastest goal of the 2006 FIFA World Cup; a 68-seconds goal, which also happened to be Ghana’s first ever goal in the world cup finals, in theWorld Cup game against the Czech Republic on 17 June 2006 at the RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne, Germany, which set the Black Stars on their way to a thrilling 2–0 victory. He missed a penalty later in the game, and received a yellow card (ruling him out of the final group game) for trying to take the penalty too early. In Ghana’s defeat to Brazil in the Round of 16, he was sent off in the 81st minute after collecting his second booking of the match (for diving). Read More
El-Hadji Ousseynou Diouf (born 15 January 1981 in Saint-Louis) is a Senegalese footballer who currently plays as a forward but preferably as a right winger for English Premier League club Blackburn Rovers. Diouf is known for his versatility, and he can play on both wings and as a forward, he is also known for his controversies on and off the football field. He was selected by Pelé in the top 125 greatest living footballers of all-time.
Diouf’s international career started in April 2000 against Benin. He has earned 41 international caps and scored 16 goals for his country. He played for Senegal in their 2002 FIFA World Cup campaign and was elected to the World Cup All-Star team, after leading Senegal to the quarter-finals and victories over France (1–0) and Sweden (2–1). Senegal eventually lost 1–0 in extra time to Turkey. He was also part of the Senegal team who were the runners-up in the 2002 African Nations Cup. Diouf was banned from international football for four matches in 2004 for a verbal assault on referee Ali Bujsaim.
In 2004, he was named to the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living footballers selected by Pelé in conjunction with FIFA‘s centenary celebrations. In October 2007, Diouf retired from international football, stating he had been frustrated by organisational problems with the side. However, Senegal coach Henri Kasperczak announced later in the month that he would name Diouf in the next squad.
On 3 April 2009 he retired from the Senegal national football team after 41 games.
Roger Milla (born Albert Roger Miller, May 20, 1952) is a Cameroonianfootball forward. He was one of the first African players to be a major star on the international stage. He played in three World Cups for the Cameroon national team. He achieved international stardom at 38 years old, an age at which most footballers have retired, by scoring four goals at the 1990 World Cup and helping the Cameroon team reach quarterfinals.
Born in the Cameroonian capital of Yaoundé, he moved constantly as a child because of his father’s railroad job. He signed for his first club in Douala as a 13-year-old. At 18, he won his first league championship with another Douala club.
In 1976, by which time he had moved to Tonnerre Yaoundé, he was awarded the African Footballer of the Year award.
In 1977, he was lured to Europe by the French club Valenciennes. However, he was kept on the reserves for two years. In 1979, he joined AS Monaco, but shuttled between the reserves’ bench and the injury list. The next year, he joined Bastia, but still did not flourish. He finally found stardom at Saint-Etienne in 1984; he then starred for Montpellier from 1986 to 1989, and became a member of the club’s coaching staff after retiring from French football.
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