England were held to a 0-0 draw last night (Tuesday 23rd June) in a frustrating match against Ghana at Boston Stadium. If I was at home, I would have just put Netflix on, the first half was poor, the second half England came out stronger, but still just didn’t do enough to get just one goal in the back of the net.
One player facing off against England was Antoine Semenyo, playing the full 90minutes, who if you are a Highworth Town FC fan, you may well recognise the name, because as a young teenager, he joined the market towns team in 2017, after a season with a side in Coleshill at the age of 16years old under coach Christian Ayres who brought him to Highworth when he took over the reserves, to support the first team. Semenyo trained with Highworth for a couple months pre-season, playing his first game for the reserves away to Carterton which Highworth won 5-1. Semenyo impressed the first team manager who took him along in the first team squad the next day for an FA Cup match against Marlow, where he started on the bench. Highworth lost that day 3-2, but Semenyo was put on for the last 15minutes, whilst Highworth were 3-0 down and changed the flow of the game, helping to bring Highworth back into the game to 3-2, but it was just too little too late.
The following day, Ayres had a call from Bristol City who were interested in signing Semenyo, which led to his professional career taking off.
Since 2026, Semenyo has been with Manchester City with 17 appearances and 7 goals, and played for Ghana since 2022, gaining 36 caps and scoring 3 goals.
So, with Antoine Semenyo being born in Chelsea, London, why is he playing for Ghana? Well for starters, his father is a former footballer, having played for Okwawu United as a midfielder in the Ghana Premier League. So with a father from Ghana, a mother giving him French citizenship and himself being born in England, he had a choice, but why Ghana?
throughout the 2025/26 Premier League season, Semenyo has been widely considered to be one of the best players in the league, playing for both Bournemouth & Manchester City, scoring 21 goals for both clubs during 48 appearances in all competitions, justifying the £64million purchase by Manchester City from Bournemouth.
England has never come knocking on Semenyo’s door, so when Ghana national team came knocking in when he was just 20, and talking for’ In The Mixer‘ Podcast, he said: “I can’t turn down playing first team for Ghana, so it was such an easy decision”.
He went on to tell the podcast, that he was happy with his decision, he had not regretted his decision, and that his dad was very happy.
England currently sit top of Group L with 1 win, 1 draw and a 2 goal difference. We now have to waiti for Englands final group match against Panama. Entertainment Swindon will be covering the match from The Blunsdon Arms after the pubs ‘Get Rocked’ Music Festival.
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