In an exclusive interview, Bournemouth winger Semenho shared his childhood trial training experience, how he improved his game performance through diary and video analysis, and his performance this season.
Q: Will you improve yourself by keeping diaries and analyzing videos?
Semenho: I get clips from every game and I have an analyst who sends me videos. I watch alone. The last game before Everton was against Newcastle United and I was given some clips where there were so many chances where the ball hit the back post and I wasn't there to score. So I practiced this in training and also wrote it in my journal.
Q: Did this come into play against Everton?
Semenho: Then came the game against Everton, and all I could think about was what I wrote in my diary. So it's like, when that moment comes, I make sure I'm there. I was in that position when Bournemouth won 3-2, that first goal that turned the game around.
Q: Does your head coach Elora encourage you to do this?
Semenio: You have to take a gamble. You must. And the head coach always said to me, "Just take a gamble. You never know what's going to happen." So, from that moment on, I made sure that if I didn't run late in one game, the next game, I was going to run late, 100 percent, every time.
Q: Your worth has skyrocketed. Do you regard yourself as a commodity?
Semenio: You know what, I really don’t. I didn't think about it at all. I think my brother reminded me of it more times than I thought about it myself. I just love playing football. I just want to do well and do well for the team.
Q: You gave up football completely when you were 15 years old. What happened then?
Semenho: I'm just tired of trying out with so many teams and failing most of them, so I think Crystal Palace has reached my breaking point. It was like, you know what, let me just be a kid again - enjoy my friends, go to school, just be a normal person. When I was a teenager, I went to so many clubs for trials that I didn’t have much time to spend with friends. Always training right after school, training right after school – that’s my norm most days. I just wanted to be normal again, which is basically why I gave up.
Q: How did you return to football?
Semenho: I was reluctant, but I thought, "You know, what's the worst that can happen?" I hadn't played football for a year, so I was a little overweight, in poor shape, and I wasn't sure what I was going to do, but I ended up going and that's where my story begins. That tryout went very well. I think I scored in every game we played.
Question: Is this a process of "losing love" and "rekindling love" for football?
Semenho: To be honest, that's exactly what it felt like at the time.
Q: I heard that you are also good at basketball?
Semenho: I play basketball very well, I tell you.
Q: In the opening game of this season against Liverpool, you scored twice after encountering racial discrimination. How did you respond at the time?
Semenio: I used it as motivation.
Q: How did you feel inside at that time?
Semenio: Internally, I feel very angry about this. But I know the way to calm it down is to play well in the game. I just cheered myself up. I knew I wanted to prove my point. So I had to pull myself together. I really don’t want to look back on that moment anymore.
Q: Do you support imprisonment for racially motivated people?
Semenio: I absolutely support it. I think that way, people who come to the game with that intention will know that if they do that, that's what's going to happen.
Q: Ghana failed to qualify for the African Cup of Nations in December. What do you think of this?
Semenio: This is a blessing in disguise. Everyone was disappointed when we didn't qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations. I think the way things went is not where we wanted it to be, but at the same time we have qualified for the World Cup now so everyone can stay at their own clubs and we can prepare accordingly.
Q: Can Ghana break through its best performance in the quarterfinals in 2010 in the World Cup?
Semenho: I don’t want to be tainted, but I think our 2010 team, they had passion and talent, but our squad for the World Cup next year also has a lot of talent, so I don’t see why we can’t make a breakthrough.
Q: Many people accuse African players of not performing as well in the national team as in the club. What do you think?
Semenho: To be honest, I hear this statement every time I go to the national team. People just love to gossip. My dad would hear his uncles say: "Why didn't he play well in Ghana?" But there were a lot of different factors behind it, so it wasn't that simple. But my time is coming. I'm going to stay as positive as possible and when I start scoring goals, hopefully everything will change. The atmosphere there is always great. Every time I go there it's great, everyone is dancing.
Q: A podcast discussed that Bournemouth’s high-intensity style of play may lack stamina and prevent them from entering the top four. How do you respond?
Semenho: What I want to say about this is that I think we have a very good team. It's not just a starting eleven, we have a strong squad. So I think it's not about one person, we have a lot of players that can step up and do a good job for us.