Black Stars captain, Asamoah Gyan has reiterated that he will not take part in penalty kicks for the national side ever again.
According to the Shanghai SIPG linchpin, this decision, which was a bid to honour his late mother, was irreversible.
Speaking exclusively on Happy FM’s Anopa Bosuo Sports, the all-time top scorer for Ghana said his history with penalties at the national team level is not unknown to Ghanaians hence he wants other players in the team to take up that responsibility.
“I have said it several times and I’ll say it again today too. I will not rescind my decision of not taking penalty kicks for the national team again. I will only play when it’s a penalty shoot-out and I have no option but even with that, I will not be part of the first five.” Gyan said.
“Ghanaians know my history with penalties at the national team and I would like to off-load that responsibility to someone else who may be better than me when it comes to penalty kicks. At my club, I still play penalties and even at Al Ain, about 20 of the goals I scored there were through penalties.” Asamoah added.
The issue of Asamoah Gyan not taking penalties for the Black Stars has lingered on for a while and it got to its peak when he got substituted moments before Ghana’s penalty shoot-out with Ivory Coast in the final of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, which Ghana eventually lost to the Ivorians.