Michael Essien his power-packed performances. In the quarter-final against Nigeria, when team captain John Mensah was dismissed on the stroke of the hour for a professional foul on Nigeria's Peter Odemwingie, Essien assumed the captaincy for the remainder of the match as Ghana eventually won 2–1. He was voted as an All-Star Player during the tournament. The Team of the Tournament was decided by the Technical Study Group (TSG) after careful observations of all the tournament's matches. During an international match played against Libya on 5 September 2008, Essien ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament playing for Ghana in the World Cup qualification
African Cross Country Championships sport's top competitors come from Africa means that the top runners at the World Cross Country Championships, especially in the men's section, are largely the same ones which would form the field of an African Championships – at the 2009 IAAF World Cross Country Championships the top 25 finishers in the men's race, and the top 12 in the women's race, were all African-born. Commenting on the dominance of the competition, IAAF president Lamine Diack said that the competition had "become not only an African affair but an East African affair, and these days you don't even get athletes from