Stephen Appiah Explains 2010 World Cup Penalty

Brazil 2014 Backroom Staffer Stephen Appiah has denied rumours that there was a tussle between himself and Asamoah Gyan over who should take the infamous Suarez penalty in the 2010 World Cup.

Speculations about his supposed confrontation with Asamoah Gyan became rife after the tournament when the penalty taker (Gyan) missed it.

Appiah was captured with Gyan holding the ball in a picture, suggesting that both of them had wanted to effect the kick.

But he explained when he appeared before the Brazil 2014 World Cup commission that he picked the ball and headed to the centre because the assistant referee had signaled that Dominic Adiyiah’s header which was handled by Uruguay’s Luis Suarez was a goal.

“It is not true that I wanted to take the kick, the assistant referee had whistled that it was a goal, so I picked the ball and was marching to the centre,” said Appiah.

Ghana and Africa in general missed close to $3m when Gyan failed to convert the spot kick, which could have etched the name of the Black Stars in gold as the first ever African country to reach the competition’s last four.

Meanwhile, Appiah has revealed that taking the 2006 penalty against the USA was difficult.

“It was difficult because I was thinking about Ghana. I considered the millions of people behind their TV sets and wanted to make them happy.”

He earned the praise of the commission with his brilliant answers and they advised him to venture into coaching.