![\"baah](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/skysports-watford-baah_6785826.jpg\")
<\/p>\nKwadwo Baah looks to the floor and starts to laugh.<\/p>\n
“Portsmouth away,” he says to his press officer. That is Watford’s next game, and Baah will be expecting a frosty reception at Fratton Park… his first trip there since a somewhat infamous celebration last year on Boxing Day.<\/p>\n
Baah was sent off at full-time for a rather rowdy performance in front of the Pompey fans at Vicarage Road, after Rocco Vata scored deep into stoppage-time to seal a 2-1 win for Watford. Performing a dance I believe the kids have termed, ‘Take The L’, from the popular video game Fortnite.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Baah is shown a red card after full-time after goading Portsmouth with the Fortnite ‘Take the L’ dance!<\/p>\n
“I know I’m not going to get the greatest response there,” Baah tells Sky Sports with a big smile on his face. “I know the fans will give me stick.<\/p>\n
“But I actually enjoy it because it shows I’m doing something right on the pitch. I find it amazing that, even though it happened nearly a year ago, they still talk about it.<\/p>\n
“Some might disagree, but I do think that if fans can give it to us, we should be allowed to give it back. I just see it as banter and I’m not going to change who I am.<\/p>\n
“I’ll always show some personality on the pitch. Players should loosen up and show that side of themselves. The abuse doesn’t bother me. I just smile and move on.”<\/p>\n
Baah, still just 22, is in many ways shaped in resilience by his journey. He was released by Crystal Palace at 14, but fought his way back into the professional game.<\/p>\n
First at Kinetic Academy in London, a charity based in London that combines football and education for young people, before being picked up by Rochdale who were in League One at the time.<\/p>\n
![\"Kwadwo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/skysports-kwadwo-baah-baah_7036087.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Image:
\n Baah in action for Rochdale against Newcastle in the FA Cup in 2020<\/p>\n
Last season was his breakthrough campaign at Watford after spells on loan in Germany and at Burton.<\/p>\n
“It has been up and down for me. I started at Palace but got let go around under-14s,” he recalls. “I got my feet running again at Kinetic, then went on a few trials before I ended up at Rochdale when I was 16.<\/p>\n
“It has been quite a journey but I have no regrets. I definitely always had the determination to keep going.<\/p>\n
“From a young age I wanted to play football. My dad played as well and he taught me a lot. I never wanted to do anything else. Even after getting released, I kept the mindset that one day I would make it. Here I am today, grateful for everything.<\/p>\n
“You have to be determined if you want to achieve your goals. You can’t do it half-heartedly. If you have hunger and determination, you always end up closer to what you want. I know I have that determination. I’m still young and I have a lot more to show and improve on, but hard work and determination take you far.”<\/p>\n
![\"watford
\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/skysports-watford-millwall_7036085.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Baah cites Neymar as an inspiration. The joy, freedom and skill with which he played captured the imagination of so many in his age group.<\/p>\n
“He is my favourite player of all time,” Baah says. “I loved watching him, and I used to watch clips of his games before trying to copy what he did. He made football look so free and natural.<\/p>\n
“But I don’t really play like him now. He did things no one can. I’m a direct winger and I love one on ones. People say wingers nowadays can be robotic, but since I was young I’ve loved attacking my defender. Going past players is the most enjoyable part of football for me.<\/p>\n
“I think that style is entertaining to watch as well. When a player drives past opponents it’s exciting for the fans. I try to bring that to the pitch.”<\/p>\n
It is Baah’s style on the pitch and infectious personality away from it that makes him so infectious to watch. One way or another there are likely to be fireworks at Fratton Park.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kwadwo Baah looks to the floor and starts to laugh. “Portsmouth away,” he says to his press officer.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-190349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}