play videoFormer Black Stars midfielder, Haminu Dramani
GhanaWeb Feature
While Michael Essien, Asamoah Gyan, Sulley Muntari, Stephen Appiah, and Richard Kingston were mostly lauded by Ghanaians for the Black Stars' performance at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, there were others whose display equally merited mentions.
Haminu Dramani, Razak Bimpong, John Paintsil,
Read full articleShilla Illiasu, and John Mensah were some of the unsung heroes in the Black Stars team as their performance aided the team to qualify from Group E which had Italy, Czech Republic, and the United States.
Today, we profile one of the unsung heroes who also scored Ghana's third goal in the history of the Mundial against the United States of America.
Ghana qualified from Group E after beating the United States 2-1 on June 17, 2006, and it was Haminu Dramani who scored the first goal for the Black Stars in the 22nd minute.
Born in Bono East Regional capital Techiman, Ghana on April 1, 1986, Haminu Dramani started his professional footballing career at the age of 18 with Hearts of Lions.
Because of his talents and prospects, Haminu spent just a season in the Ghana Premier League with the Lions before Red Star Belgrade in the Serbian Super League.
It was during his time with Red Star Belgrade that he got his maiden call-up to the Black Stars in 2005 for the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) and the FIFA World Cup qualifiers respectively.
Haminu played for eight different clubs after Red Star Belgrade but spent most of his playing career at Lokomotiv Moscow in the Russian Premier League from 2007 to 2011.
Gençlerbirliği, Lokomotiv Moscow, FC Kuban, Arles-Avignon, Gil Vicente, Asante Kotoko, Charlotte Independence, and Infonet FC all had Haminu Dramani on their books in their respective history.
In the Ghana national team, Haminu Dramani made his Black Stars debut on November 14, 2005, against Saudi Arabia in an international friendly game while the team was preparing for the AFCON qualifiers.
After making his Black Stars debut in 2005, he had to wait for a year to get his first goal and it came in the FIFA World Cup last Group E game against the United States of America.
From 2005 to 2010, Haminu Dramani featured thrice in the Africa Cup of Nations (2006, 2008, and 2010) and played in the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany with the 2000 golden generation.
Watch Haminu's first Ghana goal and others below:
Author: Joel Eshun
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