Asamoah Gyan recounts the lowest moments of his career
Former Black Stars captain Asamoah Gyan has described the open goal mishap against Namibia in the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations as the lowest point in his career.
The striker chose that incident over his defeat against Uruguay in the quarter-finals of the 2010 World Cup for emotional and psychological reasons.
The Black Stars were playing their second group match as hosts of the tournament 15 years ago, following a late win over Guinea in their opening match.
In the match against Namibia, the late Junior Agogo scored the only goal to give Ghana all three points, but a sitter by Asamoah Gyan was what sparked the acid reaction from the fans.
The Namibian goalkeeper was unable to hold on to the ball, leaving 22-year-old Gyan, who fired home his second goal of the competition, with all but an empty net in front of him, but the striker fired wide.
The next day, Asamoah Gyan and his brother Baffuor threatened to leave the camp because of the ‘harsh’ criticism the Ghanaian was subjected to.
“Statistically, we are ahead. Ghanaians think we are going to beat them [Namibia] like 20-0. And it was one of those days. I was not lucky. I was one of the best players on the field but I was unlucky.
“One chance I got at an acute angle. The keeper made a mistake and the ball went down. The keeper was out and I just hit the ball wide.
“And the next day … eii! The first time I experienced criticism. So there was only insults. It was severe,” said Berla Mundi on The Day Show on TV3.
However, Asamoah Gyan admits that this is an important event in his career because he is indisputable.
“It made me a strong person. All my life I was spoiled and that’s how I developed that tough skin.
Despite this, Ghana topped the group and went on to finish third in the tournament.
Gyan has also been Ghana’s top goalscorer with 51 goals in 109 matches.
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