One cannot help but to empathise with Ghana's prolific and leading striker Asamoah Gyan over his back on and on quit saga which is unfolding. Last Saturday February 18, 2012 I heard the breaking news on one of the radio networks in Ghana that the Babyjet as the striker is affectionately called has temporarily quit international football for the unforeseeable future. His reasons it was reported had to do with public outcry, criticisms and unending bashing over his penalty miss in 2012 AFCON semi final match against the Chipopolo of Zambia on February 8, 2012 at the Estadio de Bata in Equatorial Guinea. The tourney that featured top notch African national teams was co-hosted in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. On a wet evening and lively night in Bata, Ghana’s first attempt at goal came through a penalty in the 8th minute after Kwadwo Asamoah was brought down in the box. Asamoah Gyan stepped up to take the kick but Chipolopolo goalkeeper, Kennedy Mweene palmed away for a corner. With 12 minutes of play to go and against the run of play, Mayuka of Zambia shrugged off a challenge in front of the Ghana box to curl the ball to the far corner of Ghana Goalkeeper Kwarasey’s left for the opener. The Black Stars failed to get the much needed equalizer and went out of the tournament. It has been three decades (1982) when Ghana last won the title for the 4th time in Libya. As it happened at the world Cup in South Africa 2010 in a game against Uruguay, Gyan missed a crucial penalty that saw the Black Stars of Ghana bowing out of the contest.
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| Asamoah Gyan back on and on |
One would recall that similar threats to quit the Black Stars were issued and nearly carried through by Asamoah and elder brother Baffour Gyan during CAN 2008 in Ghana. That time, it took the intervention of the then President of Ghana JA Kufuor to talk them out.
It appears tome that though Gyan is a great player, his human side gets the better of him quite often. And that is understandable. Many of us usually think of stars as though they come from some another planet hence should have thick skins and should be able to stomach all manner of insults and insinuations. I couldn't believe it when I heard that just a day following that fateful lost to the Chipolopolo of Zambia, a song was released ridiculing Gyan. It is important that we all respect the privacy of the celebrities. We need to remember that they are not super humans, they are all just like us.
On the face of it, this back on and on Azonto ensemble should teach all of us some important lessons on how not to cross certain personal lines in life. For now the good news if we are to believe the breaking news is that Asamoah has rescinded his decision to quit the Black Stars only 48 hours after announcement of his decision. We must praise officials of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) for not relenting on their pledge not to let Gyan carry out his threat. This is very important for two reasons. Firstly, there are unconfirmed rumours of bad blood in the Black Stars camp. According to some journalists who were with the team at AFCON 2012, there appears to be a feud between players of the Black Stars over the captaincy badge. Although some GFA spokespersons have strongly denied the charge, if Gyan had left, it would have deepened the perception and actually given some credence to the allegations. The other reason is the fact that Mr. Gyan's resignation would have come in the heels of that of Kelvin Prince Boateng whose reasons for resigning are still not clear. For now it is back on and on Babyjet, Akwaaba and let us all vow to give mutual respect to each other and specially his privacy and understand that he is fallible and gullible as all of us do.
