Daniel Agyei has already graduated swiftly from youth level to emerge as Ghana’s new second-choice goalkeeper. Two caps at either end of the 2010 CAF Africa Cup of Nations finals have allowed the 20-year-old to emerge as the future between the sticks for the Black Stars, particularly as first choice Richard Kingson is likely to call it quits after the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ finals in South Africa. Agyei is already a world champion, having played in all seven games for Ghana’s Black Satellites as they became the first African country to win the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt last year. He was the hero in the penalty shoot-out for Ghana with three saves against Brazil as the Black Satellites won the world crown.

Agyei’s own performances have seen him edge ahead of the rest of the pretenders to Kingson’s crown - George Owu, Philemon McCarthy, William Amamoo and Sammy Adjei, who have all been somewhere in the pecking order as far as making South Africa 2010 is concerned. He was handed his senior debut in a friendly in Luanda in November when the Black Stars were supposed to inaugurate the new stadium in the Angolan capital. The ceremony did not happen but the match did, and Agyei was given a full 90 minutes to prove his mettle as Kingson sat on the bench. His second cap came directly after the tournament in Angola, where Ghana finished as runners-up and for which he was chosen as a squad member - one of several players elevated from the junior side and into the Black Stars set up in the wake of the Egyptian achievement. Agyei, who plays his club football for Ghanaian side Liberty Professionals, also played for Ghana in a March friendly in Sarajevo against Bosnia-Herzegovina, gaining more experience which is likely to be needed sooner rather than later.