Former Captain and all-time top scorer for the Black Stars, Asamoah Gyan, was handed a boot in the studios of SuperSports in South Africa ahead of the Black Stars group opener against Portugal Thursday.
The all-time Africa top scorer in the tournament with 6 conversions after three successive World Cups was demanded to ‘perform some magic’ by fans who were viewing the game all over the continent.
As the only remaining African team which was yet to play in the opening matches of the groupings, many were counting on the Stars, even if not to win, to score a goal at least, to wipe the four-game goal-drought of the confederation in this year’s World Cup.
During the prematch discussion, a viewer tweeted that ‘Babyjet’ be given boots to ensure he lands on the field to get a goal for Ghana.
After the last commercial break before the kick off, Gyan was seen with a boot in hand as tweeted by the viewer. Lo and behold, Ghana produced the first two ever goals for the continent, even though the match ended in a dramatic 3:2 loss to the West African side.
Meanwhile, Black Stars Head Coach, Otto Addo, has bemoaned a Cristiano Ronaldo converted spot kick created by same player in Ghana’s opener against Portugal Thursday.
The coach who sees the referee’s decision as an error says he was denied the opportunity to speak to him when the incident occurred.
At a post match engagement with the media, Otto Addo said the referee’s error was visible to the blind and loud to the deaf but was overlooked by all the officials.
According to him, he was told the referee was having a meeting when he requested to speak to him.
“The referee awarded a penalty that was not a penalty. Everyone saw it. I asked if I could speak to the ref and was told he is in a meeting and it’s not possible,” he complained bitterly.
The Black Stars of Ghana faces South Korea in their second group game encounter on Monday.
By Felix Anim-Appau|Onuaonline.com
