2010 World Cup : Gyan in distress
Ghana and the whole of Africa went into massive disillusion last night, when Asamoah Gyan’s national team was knocked out by Uruguay in touching distance of the semi-finals, at the end of a breathtaking encounter (1-1, 4-2 pen.). During this game, the Rennes striker missed the chance to become the hero of a whole continent.
Without Michael Essien, injured just before the tournament began, Ghana came to the World Cup finals with some uncertainty. However, the “Black Stars” managed to qualify against Serbia and Australia, finishing second of their group only behind Germany.
In the round of 16, the Ghanaian team eliminated the United States (2-1) after extra-time. In a fairly balanced encounter, Ghana found the edge through another goal from Asamoah Gyan, beating Tim Howard, the American goalkeeper, with an unstoppable left-foot blast.
During this quarter-final, the stake was double. Indeed, Ghana had the chance to become the first African nation to reach the final four of a World Cup since its creation in 1930. As for Gyan, he had the opportunity to equal Roger Milla’s goal record in the World Cup (5 goals). In two World Cups with the “Black Stars”, the Rennes player has now scored four (One in 2006, three in 2010).
Against Uruguay, Milovan Rajevac’s men took the initial advantage over the Celeste in the ending stages of the first half. With a superb shot from 30 meters, Sulley Muntari managed to deceive the Uruguayan goalkeeper’s attention. In the second half, Diego Forlan equalised with a free kick. Moving a lot in front of the defence, Gyan caused all sort of troubles to the South-American defence through his moves, his power, and his ability to play the ball with his back to goal.
As the penalty shootouts seemed to have become unavoidable, Ghana obtained a penalty following a blatant handball by Luis Suarez. Having already scored two penalties since the World Cup started, Gyan took his responsibilities. Unfortunately, his shot crashed on the crossbar and out of the Uruguayan goal. Stunned by the miss, his team-mates would come to comfort him before the penalty shootouts.
Not losing his confidence, he was first to face the Uruguayan goalkeeper, Fernando Muslera. This time, he didn’t shake and shot a perfect ball in the goal’s top corner. However, former Rennes player John Mensah and Dominic Adiyiah failed to score and gave Uruguay the chance to win the penalty-shootouts, eliminating the last African team remaining in this World Cup.
After the game, Gyan talked of his distress towards the match’s scenario, and especially his missed penalty: "This is one of the many chances we had to win this game. This is very hard (missing the penalty) but I’m the team’s penalty taker and I had to shoot it", explained the striker. Let’s hope he will have recovered his confidence by July the 26th, when “Babyjet” comes back to the Piverdière training grounds.