By Anthony Kwaku Amoah

CAF President Issa Hayatou once said: “It’s a pity that he (Gyan) has missed two important penalties for his country in big matches. Players like himself and Drogba have missed from the spot but those misses do not take away their huge contributions to the game” adding, “They are talented players who can define the game and need the backing of all so they can always be at their best”. I see the above comment as being professional, motivational and factual. If a whole continental soccer expert and administrator could make this statement then who am I to say Asamoah Gyan is a bad player?

In soccer just as in any other human endeavor, errors are inevitable. The most important thing is how to circumvent the recurrence of same errors in future to pave the way for success. In football games, the target of the player is to score goals to be able to win self recognition and to make funs happy. Failure makes players feel worried, disgraced and underachieved while supporters get disturbed and sometimes angry. Effective teamwork, hard work and discipline on the part of players are ideal for victory. Supporters also need to be patient with players, motivate them and pray for them to deliver their best.

For success to come the way of any team, the contributions of all are necessary. Players must play their part; supporters, technical people and administrators also need to play their part. It is therefore inappropriate for supporters and other stakeholders to place all the blames for any defeat on the corridors of only players. African football supporters are fond of either blaming players alone or coaches alone or both whenever their teams fail to win any contests. Sometimes, even a player or two could be singled out of a whole team and lambasted for bringing or having contributed to a team’s defeat. Ghana is no exception.

The defeat of Ghana’s Black Stars at the semi-final stage in the just-ended Africa Cup of Nations by Zambia’s Chipolopolo has brought in its wake floods of accusations and counter-accusations. As some lambast the UAE-based attacker, Asamoah Gyan for contributing to Ghana’s loss having failed to register a goal few minutes through the start of the game with the Zambias, others rather direct focus on Coach Plavi Stevanovic. For Gyan, it appeared the wound created during the South African 2010 World Cup after losing an important penalty shoot-out to Uruquay in a dire minute of the quarter-final preventing Ghana from getting to the finals has been resurrected. Actually, many supporters and football lovers did lash this soccer gem for the blunder. I remember how Asamoah Gyan and even his families were reportedly subjected to wide range of abuses. Actually, he and his people were called names.

In fact, I was personally sad for Gyan when I saw him record another miss for his nation in a similar circumstance. After the flop, one would not need a sports psychologist or expert to tell that the guy would be mentally traumatized. The animosity of some supporters and analysts about Gyan got deepened with some even calling for his blood. Lo and behold, in a few days after the tournament, the Ghanaian striker and ceremonial captain Asamoah Gyan, popularly called Baby Jet, had no option but to publicly announce his intention to resign from the national team. Listen to the man Asamoah Gyan: “As you can imagine it’s been very hard for me mentally to miss two important successive penalties for my country and because of this a break to recoup my thoughts and emotions will aid me to come back bigger and mentally stronger” adding “I never fully recovered from 2010 World Cup and now 2012 AFCON. I want my country to know that I love playing for them and I wouldn’t be who I am without them.” He appealed, “I would like to ask for prayers and support from Ghanaians to help me to come back with a renewed strength to continue serving my country.”

Seriously speaking, if one asks me my position on the performance of the Black Stars and Asamoah Gyan, as a person, my response would go “well done but more room for improvement”. I do not think any team will prepare for or expect defeat in a tournament. Obviously, every body would want to be the victor. The Black Stars did not go into the tournament and in just one or two matches defeated and made to return home. They won a number of encounters and that pushed them to the semi-finals. That alone should call for commendation as we motivate them, resource them and pray for them to go higher in future appearances. The issue of Gyan should go, local players should come, Coach Plavi should be sacked, and so on will not solve the problem. We need to do sober reflection of the whole performance and come out with more technical and pragmatic strategies to resolving any identified flaws.

A local saying has it that, “The one who always fetches water at the river side using clay pot is likely to be the one who will one day break the pot.” My belief is that if Gyan were not to be a very good or if you like the best taker of penalties among his colleagues, Coach Plavi would not have asked him to effect the recent one having bitterly missed that crucial one in South Africa two years ago under Coach Claud Ley Roi. The misses were misfortunes. Ghanaians should understand this and allow the young dynamic man to reorganize for future engagements.

Considering the pedigree record of Baby Jet as far as his service to Ghana is concerned, there is no doubt about the fact that the guy is a hero. Records have it that the 26-year old international striker has scored 28 goals in about 59 games that he has so far been featured. So, it would be sad and disturbing to hear that this talented man wanted to bow out of future national assignments due to marathon vitriolic abuses on his integrity for missing some spot-kicks. I am however happy about Gyan’s U-turn decision to continue to play for his country after an earlier announcement of a break.

Though not against the use of local players and coaches for our national teams, I still think the decision to go that way must be tactful. It should not be borne out of the mere fact that we failed to come home with the golden medal during the recent AFCON. Our players need optimum support to deliver.

E-mail: amoatec27@yahoo.com