Ghana legend Asamoah Gyan has recounted how he nearly ‘punched’ Uruguay star Luis Suarez after the 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament in South Africa.
The Black Stars were denied a semifinal berth at the World Cup courtesy of a Luis Suarez handball incident in the quarterfinals.
The former Liverpool and Barcelona forward prevent a goal-bound header from Ghana's Dominic Adiyiah in the final minute of extra time at the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg.
Suarez essentially produced a save on the line worthy of a goalkeeper and he was shown a straight red card as a result.
Ghana were also awarded a penalty, but Asamoah Gyan’s attempt from 12 yards crashed into the crossbar, which resulted in Suarez going mental on the touchline and sent the game to a shootout.
Uruguay won the penalty shoot-out to progress to the semifinals with Luis Suarez celebrated for his demonic act.
Speaking to Peace FM monitored by Footballghana.com, Gyan disclosed he nearly hit Suarez after the World Cup during a Premier League game between his club Sunderland and Liverpool.
Asked about what he will do to the Uruguay star whenever he meets him, he said, “Suarez, I will not do anything to him because he did that to save his country. We had opportunity and blew it away. He had to do something to keep his country in the tournament. I always say if I was in his shoes, I would have done same to save Ghana. Sometimes people feel is a cheat but he had to do everything to save his country, he sacrificed for his country”
Despite claiming he will not do anything to Suarez whenever he meets him, he recounted how he nearly ‘punched’ him during a Premier League game in England.
“To be honest, I wanted to punch him during my days at Sunderland. We (Sunderland) were playing a home game against Liverpool, so they came exchanging handshakes with us. To be frank when he came close to me, I wanted to hit him because of the things people said to me but I decided to keep my cool”