Veteran coach Joseph Emmanuel (JE) Sarpong has revealed that former Black Stars captain Asamoah Gyan missed his infamous penalty in the 2010 World Cup because he deviated from the technique he was taught.
JE Sarpong, who coached Gyan during his high school days at Accra Academy, claimed he knew the striker was going to miss the penalty the moment he stepped up.
Speaking on GhanaWeb’s Sports Check, he explained that a lack of composure, being overwhelmed by the moment, and poor execution were key factors that led to the miss.
“Asamoah Gyan learned how to take penalties at Accra Academy. I remember when they went to the World Cup, the penalty he missed. I taught him the nitty-gritty of taking penalties. He followed that and was scoring. So why did he change it on that particular day? He believed that because he had been scoring penalties, the goalkeeper couldn’t stop him.
“He was overwhelmed by the fact that, after scoring, Ghana would advance to the semi-finals for the first time. So he wasn’t composed. He stood by the ball, and the way he kicked it,” he noted.
Asamoah Gyan was Ghana’s trusted penalty taker during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Having already scored twice from the spot in the group stage, he stepped up confidently in the final moments of extra time during the quarter-final clash against Uruguay.
Ghana was just one goal away from making history as the first African country to reach the World Cup semi-finals on African soil. But it wasn’t meant to be.
With the last kick of the game, Gyan struck the crossbar and immediately clutched his head in despair, as Ghana’s dream faded away.
Watch JE Sarpong talk about Asamoah Gyan’s penalty miss below (from 5:40):
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