Member of Parliament for South Dayi Constituency, Rockson-Nelson Kwami Etse Dafeamekpor, has slammed former Black Stars captain Asamoah Gyan over his political move.
He indicated that a national figure like Gyan should remain publicly non-partisan and associating with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) gives credence to Gyan’s deliberate penalty kick miss at the 2010 FIFA World Cup to prevent the then NDC-led government from getting the praise.
Gyan missed a crucial penalty kick in extra time against Uruguay at the World Cup with the Black Stars going on to lose the eventual penalty shootout in the quarterfinals clash.
The former Udinese and Sunderland striker was recently appointed to NPP 2024 Presidential Flag bearer Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s Manifesto Committee. (Click highlighted text to read full story)
After alleging that Africa’s top goal scorer intentionally missed the penalty against Uruguay due to his NPP affiliation, the Parliamentarian doubled down stating in his interview with TV XYZ, (Click highlighted text to read full highlights)
“There is everything wrong with that. When you are a national figure like that…you have to remain non-partisan. I can reasonably say that it is because of partisan politics that he intentionally missed the penalty; for this government (NDC) to get all the glory, he won’t play to score the penalty.”
A win over Uruguay would have made Ghana the first African nation to qualify to the semifinal stage of the FIFA World Cup. Morocco achieved that feat at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.