Former Black Stars captain, Asamoah Gyan’s commitment to the senior national team over the years has been well documented.
However, the extent of this commitment might still have been understated.
A number of people, including his teammates took to social media to share their experiences with Asamoah Gyan on his 34th birthday on Friday.
According to Gyan’s Black Stars teammate, Jonathan Mensah, the player always left everything on the line when he represented the country.
One such moment at the 2010 World Cup saw a very sick Gyan suit up for the national team against the USA in the Round of 16.
With Gyan having scored two goals already at the tournament, losing him for the match against the USA would have been a huge blow for the Stars.
However, Gyan, who Jonathan Mensah said, in a tweet wishing the NorthEast United player well on his birthday, “Vomited anything he ate or drunk before Ghana” still started the game for the Stars.
“I remember this legend @ASAMOAH_GYAN3 vomited anything he ate or drunk before Ghana vs USA in the 2010 WC. This man right here still laced up and played 120 minutes and got the winner for us. All time leading scorer but above all a great man, Happy b’day legendary man.”
Goals from Kevin-Prince Boateng for Ghana and Landon Donovan for the USA had taken the match to extra-time.
Gyan then took down a long ball on his chest, held off a defender and fired home Ghana’s winner.
I remember this legend @ASAMOAH_GYAN3 Vomited anything he ate or drunk before Ghana 🇬🇭 vs USA 🇺🇸 in the 2010 WC. This man right here still laced up and played 120 minutes and got the winner for us. All time leading scorer but above all a great man, Happy b’day legendary man.🙏🏽🎂 pic.twitter.com/LAzEL9ED57
— Jonathan Mensah (@Jomens25) November 22, 2019
He played all 120 minutes of the game as the Stars picked up the victory.
Jonathan Mensah had conceded the penalty that the USA equalised with so, it’s not surprising that this particular memory would stick with him.
It was the goal that took the Black Stars into the quarter-finals of the World Cup for the first time and was scored by a player who probably shouldn’t have been on the pitch.
