‘Ghana first,’ says Gyan after patching up with Black Stars coach

Ghana coach Kwasi Appiah, Tuesday, met striker Asamoah Gyan for the first time since ‘controversially’ naming him General Captain of the Black Stars. The duo patched up their differences.

The once cordial relationship between the two appeared to have broken down after Gyan took a retirement decision while his camp led a media tirade against the coach for deciding to take away the Black Stars substantive captaincy he had held since 2012 to another player (Andre Ayew).

Coach Appiah, who was said to have been left disappointed with the turn of events, avoided all calls from Gyan until the striker decided to rescind his international retirement and made himself available for national duty after Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo intervened.

And in a sign of rapprochement between the two key Ghana national team figures, both Gyan and coach Appiah met at a location in the Ghanaian capital in the company of their representatives and addressed their personal grievances over what had ensued in the past week.

Gyan is said to have admitted that, with the benefit of hindsight, he would not have released his retirement statement in the manner he did, confessing further that it brought a lot of pressure on himself. He also pledged his total commitment to the ultimate cause of winning the Nations Cup title for the first time in 37 years.

Kwasi Appiah, on the other hand, we are told clearly expressed his displeasure at the manner his intention and decision was handled by Gyan and his camp but was letting it all slide.

Summing up the discussion Tuesday, Asante Forkuo, an aide to coach Kwasi Appiah described it as an “excellent and very fruitful” one which had both parties leaving the meeting grounds full of smiles.

Asamoah Gyan, subsequently took to his official Twitter account to express his relief and joy, stating the interest of the country domineers over any other.

Met Coach today ….Great family…Ghana our Beloved Country is first pic.twitter.com/EkjaPgDCdM

— ASAMOAH GYAN (@ASAMOAH_GYAN3) May 28, 2019

Coach Kwasi Appiah included the record Ghana top scorer (with 51 goals in 106 games) in his 29-man provisional squad set to leave Accra a training camp in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday, June 1.

Asamoah Gyan will be making his seventh Africa Cup of Nations bow in Egypt should he be listed in the Black Stars’ final 23 to be submitted to Caf by June 11.

Ghana are in Group F of the 2019 Afcon with Benin, Cameroon and Guinea-Bissau.