‘Don’t focus on Uruguay revenge’ – Gyan tells Black Stars

Former Ghana Captain Asamoah Gyan wants the Black Stars to prioritise qualification from the 2022 World Cup group stage over the target of seeking revenge against Uruguay in the final Group H encounter.

In a tense quarter-final match at the 2010 against Ghana, Luiz Suarez intentionally blocked Black Stars striker Dominic Adiyiah from scoring a winner in the final minute of extra-time with a handball, that got him red carded.

With a chance to win the game and avoid a penalty kick shootout, Ghana forward Asamoah Gyan struck the crossbar on his penalty attempt, and Suarez celebrated the miss behind the benches.

After 12 years of pain, majority of Ghanaian fans expect the current Black Stars to use their final group game against Uruguay to settle old scores.

“The most important thing is to qualify from the group stage and go further. When we think about revenge, I don’t think, yes sometimes it good. Psychologically it boosts your morale, you are going for revenge. But, it’s a different generation altogether,” Gyan told Paul Adom Otchere on Metro TV’s Good Evening Ghana.

Ghana will open its 2022 World Cup campaign with a Group H top liner against Portugal in Doha on November 24. The Black Stars then face South Korea in Al Rayyan four days later before rounding up their group campaign against sworn-rivals Uruguay in Al Wakrah on December 2.