Black Stars captain, Asamoah Gyan, has given the strongest indication that the 2019 African Nations Cup will be his final tournament for the Black Stars.
Gyan is aiming for his 7th AFCON run with the national team but he is yet to pick up the continent’s biggest footballing prize despite playing in the finals of 2010 in Angola and 2015 in Equatorial Guinea and being part of the CAF Team of The Year in 2010, 2013 and 2014.
In an interview with TV3, the Kayserispor forward said that the tournament would be his last for the national team and he would hope to bow out with success.
“I am praying that I can win the AFCON in 2019. I have been here for a long time and I have experiences a lot of things: the sacrifices, the criticisms and many other things.
It has not been easy and I just want to wrap up with something huge and that is what I pray for.
If that does not happen, though, I will still thank God because it has been a long journey. Concerning the 2019 AFCON, the team cannot wait to get there even though the qualifiers are ongoing. We want to qualify and see what happens.”
Gyan expressed regret at not being able to qualify for the 2018 World Cup and play on that stage for the fourth times but he quickly added that he would not be around for the journey to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
“The 2018 World Cup should have been my last World Cup. I have played 3 World Cup tournaments making 12 years and going to Russia would have been 16 years.
There are players whose careers last 16 years so heading to Russia was going to be a huge personal achievement.
However, it did not happen and I will have to thank God for anything that happens but I do not think I can play in another World Cup tournament after this one.”
Gyan is currently Ghana’s all-time leading scorer with 51 goals in 105 appearances for the Black Stars.
