Albert Adomah giving back to club that set him on his way

He was greeted on the pitch by football royalty with opponents Brazil boasting the talents of Thiago Silva, Marcelo, Neymar and Ronaldinho.

Neymar scored the decider in a 1-0 defeat for Ghana, at Craven Cottage but Adomah’s international bow represented the pinnacle of his remarkable journey from non-league.

“It was a proud moment. That’s the moment where both of My parents are from Ghana and for me to represent them and wear the flag for the nation was amazing,” he proudly recalls. “That was a proud moment for my parents as well. When I did tell my mum I wanted to be a footballer, she was probably thinking why do you want to be a footballer?

“I know at the time, it was, parents are very strict. Education, I want you to be a teacher, or a doctor. They didn’t really see the sense of being footballer.

“Obviously financially in the long run it’s good if you do well. So to represent the national team, that’s when they started to realise, ‘wow, you’ve actually made it son’.”

Adomah went on to score twice in 19 caps for the Black Stars and played a significant role in helping propel them to the African Cup of Nations semi-finals in 2013.

The 36-year-old proudly holds the record for the most Championship appearances (526) and even played twice in the Premier League for Middlesbrough.

And despite achieving two Premier League promotion with Boro and Villa, Adomah has not forgotten his humble roots in the game at non-league Harrow Borough.

“It was a DJ who was a very good friend of Dave Howe, who was the manager at Harrow Borough,” he reveals. “When I first joined Harrow Borough, I had a setback where I went for trials for the reserve team when I was 18.

“There were 18 players there plus the reserve players so they didn’t really look at me. I was playing right-back and at the time I was a striker. They told me to come back the following week and I bumped into the manager’s friend and he asked me what happened?

“Once he told the manager my age, Dave Howe said come back for trials with the under-18s. I played the youth team, the reserves and finally the first team. Then the rest was history. Now, an exclusive for you guys, I’m a shirt sponsor for my local club Harrow Borough which is a great privilege to give something back.”