On a fateful Tuesday morning, Asamoah Gyan revealed some shocking news to the world with regards to the Black Stars and the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
“Anything can happen. You know it’s happened before. I’m talking about Cameroon in 1994 with Roger Milla you know coming back from retirement to play in the World Cup. I haven’t retired yet. I haven’t announced my retirement. You know I’ve been out for almost two years now due to injuries, due to my body,” he told BBC.
“I just need to get my body back in shape. So I’ve started training of course so I need to get back in shape and see how my body reacts to playing competitive football. Talent-wise, I reckon it’s there already so I just have to prepare physically and then we’ll see what happens.”
Right. It is not certain that the 36-year-old will receive a call-up to the Black Stars but what happens if he actually does?
The good side
Asamoah Gyan developed a reputation for being one of the deadliest marksmen the country has ever seen. He has made 109 appearances for the senior national team so far, scoring 51 goals.
He has also scored six times in the World Cup with three assists to boot, no other African can match these numbers on the global scene.
During his glory days, he was seen as the guy to lift the morale of his teammates with his incredible finishing and his knack to lead the ‘gyama’ songs in camp, an exciting tradition for the players.
The former Udinese man has seen it all at the club level and he can provide some good advice for the younger strikers in the team, particularly Felix Afena-Gyan who has been counted upon to lead the country in the near future.
In fact, some of the current forwards in the team like Antoine Semenyo looks up to Gyan.
“As a young boy watching Ghana, he was obviously the person everyone looked up to. He was the striker that scored the goals and as a young player for me, I also want to score goals as well so every time I watched him he scored goals and I was like, ‘I want to be like him,” he told Happy FM.
Seeing Gyan up close will be a huge lift for Semenyo.
The bad side
The last days of Asamoah Gyan at the Black Stars was not pleasant. It ended in a scuffle for the captaincy between him and current captain Andre Ayew ahead of the 2019 AFCON which ended in Gyan taking on the role of ‘General Captain’.
Ghana had a poor tournament, crashing out in the round of 16. A return for Gyan could bring division in the camp which would not bode well for the team as they aim to bring smiles to the faces of Ghanaians.
Also, Gyan has not been involved in any active football for over one year, bringing his fitness levels and ability to perform into question. His inclusion would in turn mean that one potentially overperforming and fitter player would be left out. This will discourage any prospective forward who would be looking to join the team.
In the end, Otto Addo will be the one to make the call. But hopefully, the choice he would make would benefit the team.
