In an impassioned outburst on Instagram, Asamoah Gyan, Ghana's all-time top goal scorer, took aim at his former national colleagues.This afternoon, Gyan went live on Instagram to discuss a variety of topics, including the events surrounding the notorious penalty against Uruguay during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. He talked openly and passionately about topics that seemed to have been on his mind for a while, and it seemed as though he had finally found the courage to voice his disapproval of situations when he was playing. Among them is the story of how he missed a last-second penalty kick to help Ghana become the first African nation to go to the FIFA World Cup semifinals.
In the quarter-finals, Gyan questioned the story that he deliberately missed that important spot kick. How in the world could anyone speculate that I purposefully missed the penalty against Uruguay? In what way? What is it for? The idea that Baby Jet, as he is often known, ought to have left the penalty for another team did not sit well with him. Gyan took the penalty after Stephen Appiah, the Black Stars captain, picked up the ball. Many have interpreted this incident as Appiah's desire to accept the penalty on that special day inside the FNB Stadium. However, Gyan said his teammates were scared and called that absurd. "Cowards," he called them.
I was being called names and harassed by people who thought I should have let others handle the penalty miss. Why didn't the others take it themselves? They were terrified. Cowards. I'll say it. They're cowards. Despite scoring in the penalty shootout in the same game, the former Sunderland striker has been subjected to relentless criticism for missing that penalty.