Posted by Erstwhile skipper of the Black Stars Stephen Appiah has finally cleared the air on penalty incident with Asamoah Gyan at the 2010 World Cup against Uruguay.
The former Juventus man revealed that Gyan on the day was tasked to take the penalty. He also added that no player in the Black Stars could ever challenge he Appiah’s decision to take a spot kick during his time with the team.
Ghana at the World Cup in 2010 was just a kick away from being the first African country to play in the semi-final of the World Cup. The Black Stars were handed that opportunity after Barcelona forward Luis Suarez deliberately handled a Dominic Adiyah goal bound header on the goal line.
A red card was shown to Suarez and a Penalty was awarded to Ghana. Current General captain Asamoah Gyan stepped up, but he couldn’t hit the back of the net as his wild effort struck the post.
Since that tragedy, there have been rumors amongst most Ghanaian football faithfuls that skipper Stephen Appiah on the day wanted to take the spot kick, but Asamoah Gyan adamant.
Speaking to renown journalist Kwabena Yeboah in an interview, Stephen Appiah cleared the air on the famous incident.
“No player in the Black Stars could take the ball from me when I had made a decision to take a penalty kick, there was absolutely no player, never!.
“Everybody will stand aside as soon as I made a decision to take a penalty kick,” he told GTV.
He went on to add that Gyan on the day was tasked to take the penalty kick.
“He scored against Serbia, very clean kick. He scored against Australia, clean kick. I mean he was the one who suppose to take the penalty”.
Stephen Appiah led Ghana to the World Cup in 2006 and in 2010.