Asamoah Gyan is had a fantastic World Cup but his miss from the spot in the final second of extra time against Uruguay could be the talking point as Ghana exited from the competition via the penalty lottery.
The striker, so often the hero for the Black Stars could not hold back his tears with the South American side going on to win the dramatic game 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 deadlock scoreline over 120 minutes Friday night.
In the very last minute of extra time, Dominic Adiyiah headed what should have been the winner for Ghana but Suarez blocked with his hands as Portuguese referee Olegario Benquerenca awarded a penalty.
Asamoah Gyan stepped up to take the shot but saw his last kick of the game go off the crossbar as the tie went into the penalty shootout which the South American nation won.
“I’ve nothing to say, you know? It’s part of the game,” Gyan said.
And in his opinion, Adiyiah’s header should have been given.
“The ball went in, it did cross the line, and the referee disallowed it,” he said. “If it was our day, the referee would have seen it and whistled as a goal. Everything is hard luck.”
Gyan, who scored three goals in the competition and picked up two Man of the Match prizes has received the backing of John Paintsil and goalkeeper Richard Kingson as both mates cheer on the striker and insist no blame laid at the doorstep of their leading scorer.
“We have been talking to him about it. Obviously he is feeling very bad and it is not easy to forget it,” Paintsil said.
“As a team mate, we have to keep him with us, talk to him about it so that he can forget it as soon as possible.
“It is penalty, anyone can miss it. It is part of football. It is not a mistake, it is not a mistake at all. He kicked it from his heart. We all wanted to win the game but, yeah, we will pick it from there.”
For Kingson, he doesn’t expect Gyan to take any flak for the miss.
“No, there will be nothing like that,” Kingson said. “I had a message from my wife. She said everybody is happy now. We did our best and everybody is cheering him.”