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2010 World Cup: CK Akonnor collapsed after Asamoah Gyan missed penalty against Uruguay – Kwabena Yeboah reveals

World Cup 2010 World Cup: CK Akonnor collapsed after Asamoah Gyan missed penalty against Uruguay – Kwabena Yeboah reveals
SEP 2, 2021 LISTEN

Kwabena Yeboah has disclosed that CK Akonnor collapsed when Asamoah Gyan missed his last-minute penalty kick against Uruguay during the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

After a tense action of football, Ghana was awarded a penalty against the South American side after Luis Suarez deliberately used his hands to block Dominic Adiyah's header from entering the net.

Gyan, who had been Ghana's star player of the tournament missed the spot-kick after striking the post.

Ghana subsequently suffered a heartbreaking exit from the tournament after a 4-2 defeat on penalties to the South Americans to exit the tournament at the quarterfinals.

According to the veteran sports broadcaster, water had to be poured on Akonnor to get him to regain consciousness in the commentary box.

Akonnor, who is currently the coach of the Black Stars, was on commentary duty when Ghana faced Uruguay in the quarter-finals of the World Cup in South Africa.

Kwabena Yeboah was running commentary for the African Union of Broadcasting (AUB) on that day, with Akonnor being his co-commentator.

“I remember I was running commentary on that match with CK Akonnor, now the manager of the side, and thank God we’ve been training to detach ourselves from our emotions when running commentary,” he said on Starr Chat on Starr FM.

“So I could not react but it was the following day I shed tears in my room. I remember when Gyan missed the penalty, CK Akonnor collapsed momentarily. Water had to be poured on him.

“As the summarizer, he was standing by and he started muttering some strange words that made no meaning. I don’t want to repeat some of them here,” he added.

Despite failing to reach the semi-final of the 2010 World Cup, Ghana remains one of only three African teams to have reached the quarter-finals of the global showpiece.

The 2010 World Cup was hosted in South Africa.

Samuel Ekow Amoasi Appiah
Samuel Ekow Amoasi Appiah

Sports JournalistPage: SamuelEkowAmoasiAppiah

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