Gyan’s armband overshadows Ghana victory
IN what should have been a celebration of his 50th international goal and that of a resounding victory for the team and returning coach Kwesi Appiah, Black Stars captain Asamoah Gyan’s personalised armband has taken the centre stage of discussions.
As Ghana cruised to a 5-0 victory over Ethiopia in a 2019 Nations Cup qualifier in Kumasi, eyebrows were raised when Gyan had to make way for Majeed Waris in the 65th minute. The skipper failed to hand over the armband to his deputy Andre Ayew as he walked off the pitch, leaving the West Ham forward to grab a different one from the Ghana bench — a situation which heightened speculation of an unhealthy rivalry between the two over who leads the Black Stars.
Gyan had apparently worn a custom-made band from Ghana kit sponsors Puma to mark his 100th cap, but the belated honour on his 102nd game sent the wrong signals to many who watched the encounter.
“There is nothing going on wrong. There is so much unity in the team and discipline in the team is the highest I have since I was here some time ago. What happened was that the captain’s band has been customised with Gyan’s picture on it and so we were all aware that in case he [Gyan] is being changed, we cannot give the customised band to Dede [Andre Ayew].
“And so the idea was that in case Gyan is going to be changed we give the main band of the team to Dede. I don’t know why this captaincy becomes an issue. I always tell my players everyone is captain on the pitch,” head coach Kwesi Appiah explained.
A worried Gyan, who scored on the day to take his international tally to 50 goals, also moved to quell the speculations.
“Yes, it worries me a lot [the captaincy issues]. Everyone has his opinion. But we in the camp know what is going on. I think sometimes people see us and then they guess. But I think the reality is that there are some people who don’t like you. This is reality.
“But there is no issue between I and Andre. I was in the national team before he came into it and I have been his idol since day one. His father likes me a lot. We want to win games and win cups for the country. There is no issue between us.”
The Black Stars take a break and will reconvene after 10 days and fly out to the United States where they will play two international friendlies with Mexico and the United States on 28 June and 1 July respectively. — supersport.com.