Asamoah Gyan might have played his last Africa Cup of Nations match against Tunisia, the Ghana legend has conceded.
A match to forget it was as the Black Stars suffered early elimination at the Round of 16 stage of the Egypt 2019 finals by the Carthage Eagles via penalty shootouts in Ismailia Monday night.
Gyan, at the twilight of his career, would have hoped to further add to his records in a seventh straight outing, having been in the Black Stars squad in every edition since Ghana hosted the tournament in 2008.
But events in the lead up to the 2019 Afcon and eventual technical decisions by head coach Kwasi Appiah restricted the 33-year-old to substitute appearances in Ghana’s campaign.
The team leader at the 2013, 2016 and 2017 editions was stripped of his captaincy and get ‘elevated’ to a ‘General Captain’ role. Gyan would go on to make just an appearance in the group stage campaign when the side desperately needed to go for the kill late (78th minute) in a match which ended in a barren stalemate against Cameroon.
Asamoah Gyan was introduced in the 84th minute of the Tunisia clash and was heavily involved in the additional time Rami Bedoui own goal which gave Ghana a lifeline and pushed the knockout game into extra time. But the Black Stars journey came to its halt later on as they lost out on a quarterfinal ticket with a 5-4 penalty shootout loss.
“This tournament could be my last one. Many things have happened and I have to go home and think about things well and see what happens.
“This is my 7th Africa Cup of Nations and so, I will have to reflect before I come out with any decision,” he told reporters.
Asamoah Gyan’s two outings at Egypt 2019 increased his overall appearances to a record 31 matches but he however failed to maintain his record of scoring in every Afcon edition, having done so in his previous six.
Below are Gyan’s Afcon game numbers for Ghana:
