Kwesi Appiah should've dropped Asamoah Gyan long ago – Songo

The coach of the Black Stars, Kwesi Appiah should have dropped Asamoah Gyan from the national team long ago, Patrick Osei Agyeman (Countryman Songo), host of Fire for Fire on Adom TV, has said.

According to him, Asamoah Gyan is a spent force who has finished paying his dues to the national team and can no longer play well due to his injuries.

Asamoah Gyan on Monday, 20 May 209 announced his retirement from football and also recused himself from the 209 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon).

In a statement posted to his official Twitter page, Gyan said: “I wish to recuse myself from the tournament”, adding: “I also wish to retire from the national team permanently; not pretending my presence would not fuel the purported undermining the country has seen under my captaincy.”

Explaining his reason for retiring from the team, Gyan said: “Upon consultations with my family and team, and as an active footballer and captain of the national team, if the decision of the coach is to give captaincy of the tournament to another player while I am named in the team of the tournament, I wish to recuse myself from the tournament.”

“As an active footballer yet to retire, I have been in the team since 2003 and have played with some members of the technical team who were my seniors.

“Through such periods, there were no times substantive captains were part of a team in a tournament and had to surrender their captaincy to other players and served in different capacities. Mr. Richard Kingson and Stephen Appiah would be in the best position to understand this.”

Reacting to Gyan’s announcement on his programme on Tuesday, 21 May, Songo said: “The national team is not about who becomes the captain, it is about playing well and winning trophies, that is what the people need”.

“I am not surprised that Asamoah Gyan will not be at the Afcon or he won’t be the captain because he is done paying his dues for the national team. He is now weak, injury-prone and can’t play as he used to. Kwesi Appiah should have done these changes and dropped Asamoah Gyan a long time ago.”