Ghana legend, Asamoah Gyan, has revealed that the 2010 World Cup, hosted in South Africa, completely turned his football career around.
Striker Gyan, 33, scored three times to take the Black Stars to the quarter-finals of the World Cup, becoming the third African country to achieve the feat.
Ghana’s all-time leading scorer revealed the World Cup made him a household name despite his exploits before 2010.
“Honestly, it changed my life,” he told TV3.
“I always say the 2010 year was the best year of my career. Everything I did was working, even I came to music I had so many awards, business was working, I was having contracts, winning awards, my whole life changed.
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“I became an icon and everybody saw in the whole world and even in the tournament I was in the top three, I was on top of the world and leaving the life I wanted.
“I started the form from 2009 entering 2010 through to the World Cup so I was in top shape physically, mentally. So I was enjoying my football, scoring goals.
“Obviously the World Cup made me a household name. In Ghana, everybody knew who I was but this World Cup made me very famous and everywhere I went everybody knew me,” he added.
He missed a crucial penalty against Uruguay that would have propelled the country to the semi-finals of the tournament for the first time.
The four-time African champions exited the tournament at the quarterfinals.