Former Black Stars captain Asamoah Gyan considers his open goal miss against Namibia in the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations to be the low point of his career.
The striker chose the incident over his infamous miss against Uruguay in the 2010 World Cup quarter-final citing emotional and psychological reasons.
Black Stars were playing their second group game as hosts of the tournament 15 years ago, after a late win over Guinea in their opening game.
In the game against Namibia, the late Junior Agogo scored the only goal to give Ghana all three points but a sitter which was blown away by Asamoah Gyan was what triggered sour reactions from fans.
The Namibia goalkeeper was unable to hold onto the ball, leaving the then 22-year-old Gyan, who was gunning for his second goal of the competition, with everything but an empty net in front of him, but the striker shot it wide.
The next day, Asamoah Gyan with his brother Baffuor threatened to leave camp due to the ‘harsh’ criticisms the former suffered from Ghanaians
“Statistically we were ahead. Ghanaians thought we were going to beat them [Namibia] like 20-0. And it was one of those days. I wasn’t lucky. I think I was one of the best players on the field but I wasn’t lucky.
“One opportunity that I got at an acute angle. The goalkeeper fumbled and the ball dropped. The keeper was out and I just hit the ball wide.
“And the following day…eii! That was the first time I experienced criticism. So there were just insulting. It was really bad,” he told Berla Mundi on The Day Show on TV3.
Asamoah Gyan, however, confessed that it was a defining event in his career as it made him unassailable.
“It made me a strong guy. All my life, I was pampered and that was how I developed that tough skin.”
Despite the incident, Ghana topped the group and went on to finish third in the tournament.
Gyan has also moved on to become Ghana’s all-time top scorer, netting 51 times in 109 matches.
