Asamoah Gyan suffering from injury ahead of 2012 Nations Cup
Say a prayer for Gyan's recovery
Posted: 2012-01-02 09:56
Football we are told is a team sport. We have also learnt that individuals make teams thick and as Ghana prepares for what many football fans here hope will be a first Nations Cup title in thirty years, they will be hoping their main man Asamoah Gyan is present and in good health.
Gyan picked up an injury while playing for Al Ain in UAE last week. He is due out for three weeks just in time for the Nations Cup opener for Ghana against Botswana in Franceville.
While it gives Ghana a major boost ahead of the competition after initial fears that he might miss the event, it will leave many within the Ghana camp nervy and on edge too.
Gyan has steered clear off injuries for a while now and played his best football in that period. There was a time when he spent as much time in the treatment room as on the football field. In 2008 when he misfired in front of a demanding home crowd at the Nations Cup he was quick to point out he was not fully fit. In the build up to that tournament he occupied the Ghana medical staff for days.
They will be busy with him this time too. And this time, there will be many willing him to recover to better effect than 2008. Because without him, Ghana's campaign will lack a major weapon.
The Black Stars may have mastered the art of surviving without big name players as they proved at the Nations Cup in Angola.
But that tournament and the world cup a few months later in South Africa also showed clearly why Gyan is so fundamental to Ghana's hopes in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea next year.
In Angola he scored three goals out of Ghana's total tally of five. Two of those goals decided the quarter final and semi final games against Angola and Nigeria. They were victories built on solid team ethic but without Gyan's superb finishing; it is difficult to see where the team would have been.
When he scored three more goals at the World Cup that same year, he took his tally in tournaments to six goals. Ghana's total from the two competitions was ten goals.
His move from Sunderland in the English top flight in England on loan to Al Ain in Abu Dhabi on loan was roundly criticized but he has scored goals and been in great form.
In a national team where goal scoring strikers are a rare breed, Gyan's recovery and in good time will be a matter of national priority.
: 2012-01-02 12:52
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