Former Sunderland forward Asamoah Gyan has finally lifted the lid on his conversation with then Ghana skipper Stephen Appiah after missing his penalty against Uruguay in the 2010 FIFA World Cup quarter-final.
Ghana were denied a semifinal berth at the global showpiece courtesy of a Luis Suarez handball incident. He prevented a goal-bound header from Dominic Adiyiah 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 but his motivational words helped me to get that vim to take the penalty," Gyan told 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."