Asamoah Gyan Almost Walked Out

My apologies for reporting on this so late, but over the weekend, there was quite a bit of unrest in the Ghana camp when it was reported that the families of Asamoah Gyan and his brother, Baffour Gyan, had received death threats following the former’s rather lackluster performance against Namibia.

Some of the threats were broadcast on local radio by irate media and angry fans while a few more zealous ones went so far as to place phonecalls to the Gyan family threatening to burn down their houses with the brothers failed to score against Morocco. This is after Gyan pleaded with his supporters to be patient with him.

The threats frightened Gyan’s family so much that the brothers had decided to quit from the tournament. In fact, they had packed their bags and were waiting in the lobby of their team hotel before anyone else figured out what was happening. It took some convincing by the staff and some of the senior players, but the brothers were eventually persuaded to stay – after the Ghana FA promised to provide protection for their families and their property.

Claude LeRoy was furious, calling the criticism unjust, especially since it was Gyan who scored the penalty during the game against Guinea. He was disappointed that some Ghanaians had forgotten Gyan’s heroics during the last World Cup, as well as in countless campaigns for the Black Stars. The players have also united behind Gyan as they in turn criticized those “fans” who are in fact undermining Ghana’s campaign. Even Ghana’s president, John Kufuor, personally came to the defense of Gyan during a presidential broadcast.

Thankfully, Gyan managed to put this past weekend’s unpleasantness behind him during today’s game against Morocco. While he didn’t score, he played very well and came close several times. I was very pleased to see that he was applauded off the pitch, partly for his performance and partly in support. It just goes to show that while there are some idiotic fans out there, the vast majority of them are not.