Gyan get emotional over Ghana ouster as Ayew banish retirement talk
Ayew, who was shown a red card in Ghana’s 1-3 loss to Comoros on Tuesday, said he was not ready to retire
Black Stars Andre Ayew has reiterated his desire to continue playing for the team after leading Ghana to one of her most disastrous Afcon campaigns in recent times.
Ayew, who was shown a red card in Ghana’s 1-3 loss to Comoros on Tuesday, said he was not ready to retire from international duty despite their abysmal outing in Cameroun.
Ghana finished bottom in Group C having failed to record a win in their three group stage matches.
When asked about his future with the team, the 33-year-old explained that he was ready to continue playing for Ghana in the future.
“This is not the time to quit and I am available to play for the Black Stars in the future.
“I am ready to help the team secure qualification to the World Cup when the need arises,” the skipper said.
Former Black Stars captain Asamoah Gyan summed up the day's humiliation thus: "We didn't play with purpose... We didn't create enough chances, we didn't do anything and then we are going home... People will be disappointed. You have to give the people something to talk (cheer) about, we didn't give anything to talk about. As we are talking I don't know how people are going to feel back home. I'm very, very disappointed we are going out, we shouldn't have gone out. Ghana we know, we didn't see the Ghana we know today."
It was not only on Tuesday that the team failed to sparkle. The Stars failed to glitter in all the three matches they played.
They had lost the opening game to Morocco courtesy a goal they conceded in the dying minutes, and followed it up with a one-ll draw against Gabon, conceding the equalizer also in the final minutes. However, there still lingered some hope of advancing, if only the team could win handsomely. Many agreed it was possible playing The Comoros, who had themselves lost to Gabon (1-0) and Morocco (2-0).
Various permutations had raised hopes of qualifying for the knockout stage and made the encounter a make-or-break affair for the Black Stars - to win the final Group C game and hope to advance or lose the encounter an exit altogether.
Gyan, almost choking on his words, did not just engage in a wound-licking exercise as he berated Ghana's performance, he had a few words for the way forward for the Black Stars as he contributed to a SuperSport tournament coverage punditry.
"It is what it is. For me, I can't even explain. For me, I don't think it's a red card though but at the end of the day he went out, the team had to play with 10 men. Even with 10 men, I was really happy with how they played, they were able to score two goals with 10 men... After the red card, that was the Ghana I wanted to see but at the end of the day, we're going home. We have to blame ourselves, there might be the reason why we didn't play well ... whether we like it or not we are out of the competition.
"No excuses, we have to see what we have to do to come back strongly... I think everybody will be disappointed, not only Ghana, but a lot of African countries you know, one of the giants (is) going out of the competition with just one point. It's strange to me but this is football, we have to go back home and put certain things together and make sure we're coming (back) with the right mentality."
