Kumordzi dreams of Viera role

Lots of players cast in the mould of former Arsenal captain, Patrick Viera and who play that holding role in midfield dream to be like the French player.

And Ghana's Olympic team midfielder, Bernard Yao Kumordzi who plays for Greek side, Egaleo is one such young players who are relish the dream to play like the former Gunner.

Kumordzi, says he is relishing that dream after his former coach and mentor, Swedish, Stefan Hellberg once told him that with hard work, he will fill the shoes of the Patrick Viera since both players have 95 per cent features including height, composure on the ball, attitude to tackling as well as position of play.

For the 21 year-old player, a dream move in the summer to a much more challenging club like Arsenal could be the start go realising that cherished dream.

“I have a secret admiration for Arsenal of England since I want to step into the shoes of former Arsenal superstar, Patrick Viera,” the Ghana player told the FA's official newspaper, GFA News.

However, his debut call up into the Black Stars did not surprise him after once earning Le Roy's praise when on duty for the Olympic team.

The player who earned his first cap for Ghana last month during the senior team's friendly with Brazil in Sweden says he expects to settle for a role in Claude Le Roy's team after enjoying some minutes in the game against the former World Champions.

But for now Kumordzi's role in the Olympic team remains his preoccupation.

“I am fully charged for the Black Stars and I think nothing can stop me from performing in the senior national team. But my biggest priority is to help the Black Meteors win gold in the All African Games and also qualify for the Olympic Games.”

With him now in the spotlight, Kumordzi says he will be spurred on by but expects to remain calm and focused.

“In the game against Brazil, I sat on the bench 101 percent focused knowing that I might be asked to substitute someone.

“Playing against Brazil is not an easy task and in fact the fear of hearing the name Brazil alone can affect one's performance negatively if you aren't able to deal with the psychological aspect.

"So all that I did was to psych myself mentally in order to overcome the mental deficiency of playing Brazil and that helped me perform well even though it was just for 16 minutes,” the player recounted his approach to the match against Brazil.

For Bernard Yao Kumordzi, the most exciting period of that game (against Brazil) was when he got the ball past former World play of the Year, Ronaldinho and Diego.

“It gave me a good feeling and after the game, Swedish and BBC journalist interviewed me and asked whether I was under pressure, especially playing against Brazil for the first time but I said a big no to their question.