Asamoah Gyan: I’m not physically fit to play for Black Stars
Ex-Ghana captain Asamoah Gyan has admitted that he’s not physically fit to play for the Black Stars.
Ex-Ghana captain Asamoah Gyan has admitted that he’s not physically fit to play for the Black Stars.
Gyan hasn’t played for the national team since featuring at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Egypt.
However, he remains Ghana’s most capped player with 109 appearances and the country’s all-time top scorer with 51 goals.
Having been left out of Ghana’s squad for the 2021 AFCON, many have wondered if the 36-year-old will ever return to the Black Stars.
Reacting to this in an interview with Accra-based Peace FM, Gyan said he needs to earn his call-up, admitting that he’s currently not physically fit.
“I haven’t retired but I have to earn the call-up. I need to train and join a team and perform,” the former Sunderland star said.
“I need to earn the call-up and not because I have scored lots of goals it should be handed to me on a platter.
“I need to be fit and playing actively and when they invite me, I’ll be able to honour the call-up… To play, I need to be physically fit. I know I’m naturally gifted and can do everything on the pitch, but physically I don’t think I’m ready.”
Gyan also revealed that abstaining from taking a penalty during the 2015 AFCON final against Ivory Coast remains his biggest regret as Black Stars captain.
The 36-year-old was the skipper of the Black Stars team that reached the final of the AFCON seven years ago, narrowly losing to the Ivory Coast on penalties.
Despite taking a two-goal lead during the penalty shootout, Ghana squandered the advantage as the Elephants won 9-8 on penalties.
At the time, Gyan had excused himself from taking penalties for the national team following his costly misses against Uruguay in the 2010 World Cup and Zambia in the 2012 AFCON.
To this end, when the 2015 AFCON final stretched into extra time, Gyan asked to be substituted before the ensuing penalty shootout.
“As captain, I’ll say it was in 2015 [AFCON] when I asked to be substituted against Ivory Coast in the final.
“I feel like if I was not substituted, I could’ve helped in the penalty shootout. But due to some things that were going on, I felt I needed to give the chance to another player.
“This was because I had excused myself from taking penalties. But there were a lot of things going on which led to me asking to be substituted. So I say that was one of my biggest regrets as a captain,” he added.
