Former Black Stars captain Asamoah Gyan has revealed he met Luis Suarez during his playing days in the English Premier League after the 2010 World Cup handball incident in South Africa.
Ghana were on the verge of becoming the first African country to reach the semi-finals of the Mundial but Luis Suarez deliberately blocked Dominic Adiyah’s goal-bound header just on the line.
The Black Stars were awarded a penalty but Asamoah Gyan failed to convert the crucial spot-kick.
The South Americans subsequently emerged as champions on a 4-2 penalty win against the Black Stars at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg.
Both countries were in the same group in this year’s edition of the global showpiece which is ongoing in Qatar but the two-time world champions exhibited their superiority by beating Ghana 2-0 but still exited the tourney with Ghana at the group phase.
Ghana, were, however, awarded another penalty but once again skipper Andre Ayew had his kick saved by goalkeeper Sergio Rochet Alvarez.
But Gyan, speaking in an interview, recounted his last meeting with Suarez was a Premier League fixture between Sunderland and Liverpool, where they only shook hands without having any form of conversation.
“He was at Liverpool at the time. I don’t think he spoke English at the time. I never spoke to him under we [Sunderland] played Liverpool and they won 4-2,” he told UK-based talkSPORTS.
“We just did a handshake. People thought I was going to ignore him, but we had a handshake and that’s it. That’s the only time, but I haven’t spoken to him,” he added.
Gyan is Africa’s top goal scorer in the history of the World Cup and Ghana’s all-time leading goal scorer.