Former Ghana striker, Asamoah Gyan has finally lifted the lid on his conversation with Stephen Appiah after missing his penalty against Uruguay in the 2010 FIFA World Cup quarter-final.
Ghana was denied a semifinal berth at the global showpiece at the 2010 World Cup courtesy of a Luis Suarez handball incident.
The former Liverpool and Barcelona forward prevented Dominic Adiyah’s goal-bound header in the final minute of extra time at the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg and was shown a red card as a result.
The Black Stars were awarded a penalty, but Asamoah Gyan’s attempt from 12 yards crashed into the crossbar, sending the game to a penalty shootout which Uruguay won 4-2.
“At the time he was motivating me and that was after the penalty. I was very worried going into the post-match penalty shootout but he came and told me that he knows what I can do. I was the best penalty taker and it was a mistake. I shouldn’t be thinking that I won’t go and play the penalty. He was behind the reason why I took some of the spot-kicks although I wanted not to play his motivational words helped me to get that vim to take the penalty,” Gyan told Accra-based Peace FM.
“He was telling me not to think that I won’t play but that caption (that picture) came with a lot of opinions. In Ghana, they like spreading negative and everyone has something to say when anything happens. They were saying he warned me not to play and they even said Appiah stated have you seen what you’ve done” after the penalty.
He added, “In that year, they used to appoint a penalty taker before every game and I was the first penalty taker.
“He was going to take the ball for me and he was not going to play. That was what happened.
“I always say when anything happens everyone has something to say and I don’t dispute that so I have to just take it.”
The Black Stars without Asamoah Gyan for the first time will be hoping to make an impact in Qatar during the 2022 World Cup later this year.
Source: Modern Ghana
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