Former Ghana captain Asamoah Gyan has revealed that his biggest regret as leader of the team was his decision not to take part in the penalty shootout against Cote d’Ivoire in the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.
The Black Stars took a two-goal lead during the penalty shootouts and surrendered it for the Ivorians to win the game.
Ivory Coast were crowned champions as they beat Ghana 9-8 in a dramatic penalty shootout after a goalless 120 minutes in the final of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.
Gyan had excused himself from taking penalties for the national team following his costly misses against Uruguay in the 2010 World Cup and Zambia in the 2012 AFCON semifinal.
The former Sunderland striker revealed, he asked to be substituted before the penalty shootout, something he later regrets.
“As captain, I’ll say it was in 2015 [AFCON] when I asked to be substituted against Ivory Coast in the final,” he said on Peace FM.
“I feel like if I was not substituted, I could’ve helped in the penalty shootout. But due to some things that were going on, I felt I needed to give the chance to another player.
“This was because I had excused myself from taking penalties. But there were a lot of things going on which led to me asking to be substituted. So I say that was one of my biggest regrets as a captain.”
