Former Ghana Blackstars captain, Asamoah Gyan has confessed to letting Ghana and Africa down after his penalty miss against Uruguay in the 2010 World Cup Quarterfinal.
Speaking in an interview with FIFA+, Baby Jet mentioned that, after the miss, he felt he had let his country and the continent down and further revealed that, the incident reappears in his memory whenever he is alone a
The former Udinese and Sunderland forward further revealed that he felt confident and on top of the world at that time.
“I was one of the top three best players in the world at that time. I was on top of the world, I was confident. A day before the Uruguay game, I shot 20 penalties against our goalkeeper at training. I scored all 20
I was going to the left side of the goalkeeper. I saw him go to the left and I saw him going to my right where I was shooting the ball. He feinted me. And then he went to where the ball was going. I didn’t know how the ball went up. Technically there was something wrong, I didn’t have the right technique.
I had to cry, you know, because I thought like I came from hero to zero. I let the whole continent, my country down. Like anytime I’m alone in a room, it just pops up in my mind. I’m gonna live with it for the rest of my life.”
In 2010, Ghana was on the verge of making history in the World Cup, by being the first African country to go to the Semifinal of the World Cup if they beat Uruguay. In the final minute of the game, Dominic Adiyiah’s header towards the goal seemed to be the key to leading the Ghanaians into the semifinals when it beat the Uruguayan goalkeeper, Fernando Muslera but, there on the line was Luis Suarez who prevented the ball from entering the goal by punching away the ball with his hand which led to a penalty for the Blackstars and a red card for Suarez. With the hope of the nation and continent on his shoulders, Asamoah stood behind the ball to take the penalty, but unfortunately, kicked the ball high to smack the crossbar, missing the goal. The Blackstars later lost on penalties and failed to enter the history books.
Story by: Kelvin Okai-Twum | univers.ug.edu.gh
