Asamoah Gyan has opened up on the conversation he had with Stephen Appiah in the aftermath of his costly penalty miss in the quarterfinals of the 2010 World Cup against Uruguay.
According to Gyan, Appiah only approached him to hand him the ball and to also encourage him after he had missed the penalty.
The former Ghana captain enjoyed a great World Cup campaign, where he scored three goals as the Black Stars reached the last eight.
However, he went from hero to villain in the quarter-finals when he squandered a last-minute penalty against Uruguay that would’ve seen Ghana book a semi-final berth.
A photo of Appiah appearing to confront Gyan after his penalty miss also went viral afterwards, with fans reading various meanings into it.
Talking about the incident from 14 years ago, Gyan said Appiah did not scold him for missing the penalty and was only bringing the ball to him.
He further explained that the former Fenerbahce midfielder approached him to encourage him ahead of the penalty shootout that was to come.
“Stephen [Appiah] was bringing the ball to me to take the penalty. I was the obvious one to take because I had scored against Serbia and Australia,” Gyan said on Onua TV.
“He approached me after the final whistle and motivated me to take the first penalty during the shootout against Uruguay.”
It will be recalled that the Black Stars were on the verge of becoming the first African team to reach the last four of the World Cup before losing on penalties to Uruguay at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
The defeat was made more painful by the fact that Ghana had a penalty in the final seconds of extra time after Suarez used his hand to keep out Dominic Adiyiah’s goal-bound header.
Although Suarez was sent off for his unsporting act and Ghana awarded a penalty, Gyan missed from the spot.
The South Americans eventually won the game 4-2 on penalties to progress to the semi-final of the World Cup at the expense of Ghana.
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