Richard Kingston has refuted claims that Stephen Appiah was not happy when Asamoah Gyan missed the last-minute spot-kick against Uruguay in South Africa.
The Black Stars were on the verge of making history during the 2010 FIFA World Cup after edging out the USA in the Round of 16 to book a place in the quarter-finals.
In the dying minute of the game during extra time, Luis Suarez prevented Dominic Adiyah’s header from entering the net.
However, Ghana was awarded a spot-kick but Asamoah Gyan, who had been the Black Stars main man during the tournament, failed to convert the spot-kick.
Fans believed that Appiah had elected to take the spot-kick to potentially send Ghana to the last four of the World Cup for the first time but Gyan had other ideas and he went on to miss the kick.
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However, it turns out that was not the case at all.
According to the former Black Stars goalkeeper, Gyan was the team’s designated penalty taker and so, he was always going to be the man to face Fernando Muslera in the Uruguayan post.
“Asamoah Gyan was our first penalty taker. When there was a penalty, everyone knew Gyan would take it. So against Uruguay, when the penalty was awarded, Appiah took the ball and immediately handed the ball to Gyan.
“Sometimes, some people say Appiah wanted to take the kick but Gyan stopped. That was never true. Gyan was always going to have it,” Kingson said in an interview with Kumasi-based Fox FM.
On the match itself, Ghana’s missed kick sent the match into extra time and penalties and the Black Stars lost to Uruguay via the penalty kicks.
Ghana failed to qualify for the last edition in Russia.