Ex-Ghana captain Asamoah Gyan has revealed that he trained behind the scenes and would’ve considered playing at the Qatar 2022 World Cup if he was invited.
Gyan hasn’t played for the national team in nearly four years, with his last appearance coming in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
The 37-year-old was also not included in Ghana’s squad for last year’s World Cup, with the Black Stars going on to exit the tournament at the group stages.
Gyan, who served as a pundit for SuperSport TV during the World Cup, has now revealed that he trained behind the scenes and would’ve played if invited.
“That World Cup time, I was working behind the scene,” he told Dan Kwaku Yeboah in an interview, as quoted by Ghanaweb.
“I felt if I was invited I would have considered it because I was training hard because I wanted to come back to the field. But it’s all part of life… So far as I haven’t retired from football, I can still play.”
Meanwhile, the former Sunderland striker also suggested “juju” exits in football, although many players are reluctant to speak about it.
“Anything that has a name exists. We all, like in colts, we all go together and they tell us ‘get this and bath with it, do this and that’,” Gyan said.
“And if you don’t do it and the team loses, they’ll say you caused the defeat. With Cedar, we did it once or twice. We played Liberty we were beaten 4-0, but juju is in football.”
“I remember another colts game, a man told us to do something for two goals. Sometimes with a padlock they will tell you if you score one that is it.”
He added: “You can get an empty net and shoot wide when the one goal enters that is it so it (juju) is there. When someone scores a goal people usually say this is a mallam goal they know it (juju) is there.”
“We all have what we believe. Someone will close from church and pass by a mallam. There are a lot of players if they will tell the truth they do those things.”
“Someone will not tell you their secret but if you are very observant you will see that something is going on. That person will not tell you there is something going on but if you are observant there are certain things you will see.”
Gyan is currently without a club, having last played for Ghana Premier League side Legon Cities.
Pulse
