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Ghana forward Asamoah Gyan has opened up on why he threatened to walk out of the Black Stars camp during the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations.
Gyan was one of the important members of the Black Stars despite his then tender age.
He was faced with opprobrium following his late miss during Ghana’s 2-1 win against Guinea in the Group stage.
The former Udinese forward threatened to leave the team’s camp, but it took the intervention of former Ghana President John Kuffour for him to reverse his decision.
“At that time I didn’t feel any criticism, starting from the colts level it was like I was being pampered until that time. I didn’t know anything about criticism until that time,” Gyan told Pulse Ghana.
“I felt like the criticism was unfair to me because they criticized me and I think it was personal in a game that we won, which Ghanaian were expecting like 10-0. People didn’t understand what was going on at that time, so I thought I was treated unfairly.”
“My mother called me and she was crying. I felt it wasn’t the right time to do that in the middle of the tournament and I felt that the whole nation was against me and at that tender age, I was like 20 years, so I felt that the whole nation was against me.”
“I sacrificed for the nation. I should have been out of the tournament, but I felt that because of the love I have for the country I decided to come because I had a contract to sign for Manchester City, but I ignored the contract. I remember my agent told me I should boycott the Africa Cup of Nations and go for rehab and go and sign the contract.“
“But I told him the tournament was very important to me because Ghana was hosting it and I missed the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations and that (2008) would have been my first Africa Cup of Nations and Ghana was hosting, so there was a lot of things going through my mind so that was why I got hurt and I decided to just let it go.”
Gyan has featured in seven AFCON tournaments, tallying eight goals.
He is Ghana’s all-time top scorer with 51 goals..
Source: GHANAsoccernet.com
