"Appiah took the ball and immediately handed the ball to Gyan` - Richard Kingston clears air on Ghana's World Cup penalty exit

Ghana`s last minute spot kick miss sent the match into extra time and penalties and the Black Stars lost to Uruguay on penalty kicks.

"Appiah took the ball and immediately handed the ball to Gyan` - Richard Kingston clears air on Ghana's World Cup penalty exit
Gyan misses penalty against Uruguay

For so many years, football fans in Ghana have held the belief that Asamoah Gyan insisted on taking the penalty against Uruguay in the 2010 FIFA World Cup instead of handing the ball to Stephen Appiah at that crucial last minute moment.

Fans believed that Appiah was about to take the spot kick to potentially send Ghana to the semi-finals of the World Cup in South Africa for the first time but Gyan had other ideas and went on to miss the kick.

However, it turns out not to be true at all.

According to Black Stars goalkeeper of the team, Richard `Olele` Kingston, Gyan was the team`s elected penalty taker.

“Asamoah Gyan was our first penalty taker. When there was a penalty, everyone knew Gyan would take it. So against Uruguay, when the penalty was awarded, Appiah took the ball and immediately handed the ball to Gyan.

Sometimes, some people say Appiah wanted to take the kick but Gyan stopped. That was never true. Gyan was always going to have it,” Kingston said in an interview with Kumasi-based Fox FM.

 

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“The penalty miss is something that I will never forget. It’s part of my life now. I am not the only player who missed a crucial penalty. We could have become the first African team to reach the World Cup semi-final.

"Sometimes when I am alone, I think about it and it still hurts. I feel, ‘Oh! Maybe we can play the penalty again so that I can redeem myself.’ Life goes on, I need to forget about it and live my life.”

Many Ghanaian football fans have not forgotten the episode and ten years after it happened, many still feel the pain and do not want to talk about it.

On the match, Ghana`s last minute spot kick miss sent the match into extra time and penalties and the Black Stars lost to Uruguay on penalty kicks.