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Former Black Stars Captain, Asamoah Gyan has admitted that Luiz Suarez’s hand ball against Ghana during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa was done in the interest of his country.
According to Ghana’s all-time leading top scorer, though Ghanaians still recall the nightmare, the Uruguayan acted to saved his country.
The former Liverpool and Barcelona forward left pains on the heart of Ghanaians after he denied the Black Stars a semi finals qualification in the 2010 after handling a ball off the goal line.
Ghana were awarded a late penalty; Asamoah Gyan’s subsequent kick struck the crossbar as Ghana eventually lost to Uruguay in the penalty shoot-out after extra time.
However, after 10 years, Gyan who became a villain with his penalty miss despite his heroic display in the tournament has said, he would had emulated the Uruguayan on any day although he was hurt.
“What happened in 2010, he [Suarez] did that to save his country. If that hadn’t happened, they wouldn’t have gone through too. We had the opportunity, we blew it away but he had to do what he did to keep the team in the tournament”
“I always say if I were in his shoes, I would also do exactly what he did to save my country. Sometimes, people feel it’s a cheat but he had to do everything to save the country” Asamoah Gyan said on Peace FM.
The legendary goal poacher further confessed that he planned to hit Luiz Suarez when his former side, Sunderland clashed with Liverpool in the EPL Premier League later that year.
“I remember the game between Sunderland and Liverpool. We were playing at home on that day and all the players were shaking hands. So, I wanted to hit him [Suarez] because people had said things that stuck in my mind”
“I was naive at that time but when I thought about it later, I realized that I had to let it go because I would have done the same thing if I was in his position” he told Kwame Sefa Kayi.
The Black Stars would have the opportunity to revenge their loss as they’ve been paired in ‘Group H’ with Suarez’s Uruguay in the 2022 FIFA World Cup to be staged in Qatar later this year. Portugal and South Korea are also in the Group.
