Former Ghana captain Asamoah Gyan has opened up about the events that rocked Ghana’s 2014 World Cup participation.
The Black Stars crashed out at the group stage of the global football showpiece, but the campaign was overshadowed by player agitations over bonuses which forced the then government to airlift 3 million dollars to Brazil to pay the protesting players.
A commission of inquiry was set up to investigate the chaos, and the Black Stars team lost the goodwill of Ghanaians and are still fighting to win the fans back.
Gyan, who was captain then, has now written about the events and says the players lost trust for the government after repeated failed promises.
Here’s the excerpt from his book “LeGyandary”.
“This was not how the silent protest were supposed to end,” he revealed in his book.
“All I can say is that after repeated promises to pay at various times during pre-tournament camping, failing to meet their own deadlines, authorities had lost the trust of a lot of the players.
“…The players remained adamant about getting their payments and the government realised they had to save face quickly. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how we got the point where $3m in cash bonuses was airlifted to Brazil.”