John Pantsil went out on a high at the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations by helping Ghana to beat Ivory Coast and claim third place.
The host nation had seen their hopes of winning the trophy on home soil dashed on Thursday with a 1-0 defeat by Cameroon, who went on to lose 1-0 to Egypt in Sunday's final, but salvaged some pride with a 4-2 defeat of the Ivorians on Saturday. It also meant the best showing by Ghana at a finals since the 1992 edition in Senegal.
Sulley Muntari had opened the scoring in the tenth minute with a long-range free-kick only for Boubacar Sanogo to put Ivory Coast in the lead with two goals in quick succession. Qunicy Owusu-Abeyie levelled matters soon after the interval and Junior Agogo made it 3-2 with ten minutes to play. Hamanu Draman then sealed victory in the 85th minute.
Pantsil played the full 90 minutes of each of Ghana's five games and will return to West Ham United hoping to continue the good form he showed up to his last fixture for the club on 5 January. His club-mate Henri Camara, who featured against Birmingham City as a substitute on Saturday, returned to London this week after scoring once in three group-stage appearances for Senegal.