Black Stars head coach, Kwesi Appiah, wants football fans to back the team’s captain, Asamoah Gyan, after missing a penalty against the United States in the 2-1 loss in Saturday’s friendly played in Connecticut.
Gyan missed a spot kick in the 45th minute after Frank Acheampong was fouled in the penalty area.
Speaking after the match, Appiah said that the player needed the backing of Ghanaians since he would be called on to take more penalties for the nation in future.
“Every player in the world can miss a penalty. The good thing is that Gyan used to take our penalties and for one reason or another, he decided not to take any more for us. Now, he has the right to change his mind and he did so to help our nation and I do not believe he went there to miss the kick. It takes guts to take a penalty so Gyan needs to be encouraged so he can take more penalties for us the future.”
It was Gyan’s first penalty for Ghana since missing one in the semi-final of the 2012 AFCON tournament against Zambia.
He decided not to take one after 2012 and he revealed that it was to honour an instruction given to him by his late mother.
Below is a video of the penalty:
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By: Nathan Quao/citifmonline.com/Ghana