Asamoah Gyan planned to retire after 2018 World Cup - JE Sarpong claims

Asamoah Gyan rules out retirement from Black Stars

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Former Ebusua Dwarfs coach JE Sarpong has said that veteran striker Asamoah Gyan planned calling time on his national team career after the 2018 World Cup.

JE Sarpong said that Gyan had promised to bow out of the team after leading them to the 2018 World Cup which was held in Russia.

JE Sarpong said he decided to speak to Asamoah Gyan after being tipped about certain happenings in the team.

He urged Gyan to retire and save his name but Gyan promised to make a last appearance at the World Cup before retiring.

“I called Asamoah after observing what was happening around the team and impressed upon him to call it a quit from the national team. But, he told me he wanted to play at his last World Cup [Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup] before retiring. But, he never did until he was removed,” he said on GTV Sports+.

The Black Stars as already known missed out on the World Cup in Russia after failing to make it in the qualifiers.

JE Sarpong on GTV also detailed how he impressed on Kwasi Appiah to reverse his decision to strip Asamoah Gyan of the Black Stars captaincy ahead of the 2019 AFCON.

He. disclosed that Kwasi Appiah explained to him why he made that decision but advised him against it as he realized it will impact negatively on the team.

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“I called Kwasi Appiah at midnight about the decision because I wasn’t happy about what I heard at the time. Kwasi confirmed the decision and explained the rationale behind his decision to me. I will never forget it. I told him that the timing wasn’t favourable so he should reverse it but he stuck to his decision to reverse the decision,” he told GTV Sports+.

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