Admin l Tuesday, May 21, 2019
GHANA – Captain of Ghana national team, Asamoah Gyan has said he will no longer be part of the Ghana Black Stars to the African Nations Cup. He has also decided to retire permanently from the national team.
He said he decided to resign following the decision of the coach to give the captainship of the team to another player while he is still a member of the team. He said he decided to leave after due consultation with his family and team as an active footballer.
“Upon consultation with my family and team and as an active footballer and captain of the national team if the decision of the coach is to give the captaincy of the tournament to another player, while I am named in the tournament.
“I wish to recuse myself from the tournament. I also wish to retire from the national team permanently; not pretending my presence would not fuel the purported undermining the country has seen under my captaincy”, he said.
He also went ahead to recall the sacrifice he has made for the team and how he has used his finance to support the Black Stars over the years.
See his statement below
I cannot pretend to be happy, I would rather hurt myself emotionally and psychologically. Over the years i have tried to serve with an open heart, and have given all of the best of my ability in my quest to serve our great nation, Ghana.
I have represented the green colours of our country in 10 major tournaments from the Olympics, world cup and AFrican nations cup with different coaches.
In all, I would say the last years were the proudest moment of my career as a captain under the managerial leadership of Coach Akwasi Apiah.
I stood solidly behind my coach during the difficult times in Brazil, and in some cases supported the endeavours of the team financially, when the need arouse for make sure his tenure and my captainship would not suffer challenges, and to ride with the assertion, “A Ghanaian coach can do it”.
As an active footballer yet to retire, I have been in the team since 2003, and have played with some members of the technical team who were my seniors. Through such period, there were no times, substantive captains were part of a team and have to surrender their Captaincy to other players and serve in different capacities.
Mr. Richard Kingston and Stephen Appiah would be in the best position to understand this. My team, my family and my fans have had reasons to whisper, the trend of reporting and articles either to substantiate my exclusion or my inclusion and rumoured roles I am to play at AFCON in Egypt.
In all, my answers have been ” respect the decision of the coach, because the records under the year per game, minutes and goal for all attackers are evidence to guide his decision.
Upon consultation with my family and team and as an active footballer and captain of the national team if the decision of the coach is to give the captaincy of the tournament to another player, while I am named in the tournament. I wish to recuse myself from the tournament. I also wish to retire from the national team permanently; not pretending my presence would not fuel the purported undermining the country has seen under my captaincy.
