Jonathan Mensah

Jonathan Mensah won the 2009 Under-20 World Cup with Ghana, the first African country to win it, and that performance earned him a senior call-up. Eleven years later, in 2020, he won the MLS Cup with Columbus Crew and was named in the MLS Best XI.

Career

He was born in Accra on 13 July 1990 and made his debut for Ashanti Gold at 17, playing 29 games in his only season. He moved to Free State Stars in South Africa in 2008, then to Udinese, who loaned him to Granada. He spent five seasons at Evian in France and played for Anzhi Makhachkala in Russia before joining Columbus in 2017. He later played for San Jose Earthquakes and New England Revolution. He wears "Jonathan" on his shirt to avoid confusion with the older defender John Mensah.

Black Stars

He helped Ghana finish runners-up at the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, played at the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, and was part of squads that reached five straight AFCON semi-finals. He first captained Ghana against Congo in September 2017.