Former Black Stars captain, Asamoah Gyan has announced his retirement from football.
Ghana’s greatest goalscorer of all time hung up his boots having earned 109 caps for the senior national team.
Most footballers prefer to let their feet do the talking and Gyan certainly did – he scored 51 goals for Ghana and over 170 at club level.
However, Baby Jet was a decent orator as well, with his words, most of the time, emphasising his extraordinary winning mentality.
We’ve combed through his nearly three-decade-long career and dug up a few quotes that explained why he remained at the top of his game for so many years.
World Cup hurt
“I’ve forgiven him [Suarez] – it’s part of the game. As I always say, if it were me, I would have done the same thing. In the last minute, they were going out, and he made himself a hero in his country. It was cheating to handle the ball, but I would do the same.”
It would have been easy for Asamoah Gyan to lay all the blame at the feet of then-public enemy number one, Luis Suarez after the events of the 2010 World Cup quarter-final. But he didn’t.
He understood what was at stake for Suarez, even admitting that he would have done same had the tables been reversed. It was a heartbreaking moment for the former Black Stars captain but he handled it with grace.
For the team
“As a striker and captain of the team, I will do all I can to help the team succeed. So, whatever decision I take with regards to this particular issue will be in the interest of the national team and not a personal one.”
After missing a crucial penalty at the 2010 World Cup and in the semi-finals of the AFCON against Zambia, Gyan was understandably uncomfortable taking spot-kicks for the Black Stars, even swearing off them completely. But as one of Ghana’s best from 12 yards, he backtracked from this decision, making himself available to take them if the team needed him to.
PL dream
“I felt I was on top of the world. I had the world at my feet”
“I am here to do what I do best, and at the end of the day we will see.”
Gyan’s move to Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates was a controversial one. Many fans felt he was taking a step down in his career and would not reach the heights he had been tipped for.
However, Baby Jet was never one to doubt in his own abilities, and his 123 goals, while keeping up his impressive performances for the Black Stars, proved the classic saying that class was permanent.
Leader
“We had the chance to win tonight but that’s football. We apologise for that. I’m very sad but I cannot fault our performance. We have young players who are very good, so we hope that we can come back stronger.”
Excuses, the blame game – one would have expected that Ghana’s loss on penalties in the final of AFCON 2015 would fizzle to a nasty end.
Gyan was quick to apologise and praise the young players in the squad, while already planning an immediate return to the big stage.
