Sports
“I Wanted To Hit Suarez During A Premier League Match” – Asamoah Gyan
Ghana legend Asamoah Gyan has confessed that after the 2010 FIFA World Cup, he wanted to hit Luis Suarez during a Premier League match.
Gyan said he was hurt by Suarez’s deliberate handball, which led to Ghana’s painful loss to Uruguay and elimination from the World Cup at the quarter-finals stage in South Africa.
So, when Sunderland faced Liverpool in a top-flight match after the tournament, Gyan wanted to avenge the Black Stars’ exit by hitting Suarez.
However, the former Sunderland striker claims he resisted the urge to do something he would later regret.
“I remember the game between Sunderland and Liverpool. We were playing at home on that day and all players were shaking hands. I wanted to hit him [Suarez] because people had said things that stuck in my mind.
“I was naïve at that time but when I thought about it later, I realized that I had to let it go because I would have done the same thing if I was in his position,” Gyan said on Peace FM.
After Suarez used his hand to block a goal-bound header by Dominic Adiyiah, Ghana were awarded a late penalty, which Gyan squandered.
Uruguay would go on to win the tense match on penalties and advance to the semi-finals.
Ghana have a chance to avenge the loss as the Black Stars have been drawn in the same group as Uruguay for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
“We believe that it will be revenge time,” Ghana FA president Kurt Okraku told BBC Sport Africa after the World Cup draw on April 1.
“We thought we had clearly won that particular game but for that save from Suarez. It is very interesting for us to pitch against them again, obviously with fond memories [this time].
“It is important that we all set the record straight.”
Gyan, 36, has ruled himself out of the World Cup, but Suarez, now at Atletico Madrid, is expected to be there.
