Asamoah Gyan has announced his retirement from international football just weeks before the Africa Nations Cup through an open letter posted on his official Twitter handle, with Ghana coach Kwasi Appiah set to release his provisional squad for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
The Ghanian record goal scorer has been in the Ghanian team since 2003 and has featured in 10 major tournaments including World cup, Olympics and AFCON, said his decision was due to his unhappiness with plans by coach Kwasi Appiah to deny him the opportunity of captaining the Black Stars in next month’s Africa Nations Cup in Egypt.
An aggrieved Gyan said “Upon consultation with my family and team… if the decision of the coach is to give captaincy of the tournament to another player while I am named in the team for the tournament, I wish to recuse myself from the tournament, I also wish to retire from the national team permanently…”
Thank you Ghana, am forever grateful 🙏 @AnimSammy @BaffourGyan4 @cobbyafriyie pic.twitter.com/xDaUKxeIOn
— ASAMOAH GYAN (@ASAMOAH_GYAN3) May 20, 2019
The Black Stars will be targeting an end to a 37-year Nations Cup trophy drought at the Egypt 2019 finals. They are pitted in Group F with defending champions Cameroon, Benin and Guinea-Bissau.
