It’s all fun in Black Stars camp as Gyan jokes with Atsu, Owusu, others

A major concern prior to the Black Stars training tour in the United Arab Emirates was how striker Asamoah Gyan was going to be welcomed by his teammates.

A dramatic 24 hours prior to the naming of the provisional 29-man squad saw Gyan announce his retirement from the team via a strongly-worded statement and also made a dramatic u-turn after a telephone conversation with President Akufo-Addo.

Announcing the decision to come out of his third retirement, Gyan said “A presidential request is one that cannot be disregarded. I have taken the request of His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in good faith and will make myself available for selection by coach Kwasi Appiah to help win the AFCON trophy.”

Doubts over Gyan’s commitment to the team and fears of a hostile reception from coach Kwesi Appiah and some players continued to linger despite unity talks held between Gyan and the coach.

Those fears and doubts should however be doused by the latest videos emanating from the training base in the UAE.

Series of videos circulating on various social media platforms have the now General Captain and some members of the playing body teasing each other and having fun in camp.

One of the videos had winger Christian Atsu giving a cheeky response to a very ‘silly’ question by Asamoah Gyan.

The videos appear to confirm a claims by coach Kwesi Appiah there is unity and oneness in camp and that the players are focused on winning Ghana its first AFCON title in 37 years.

Kwesi Appiah told JoyNews in an interview that ”I am very confident in the team because it doesn't matter who plays, all of them have confidence. Their willingness to kill themselves for the nation is really high and there is big time unity in camp”.

The four-time winners have been paired with defending champions Cameroon, Benin and Guinea Bissau in Group F of the tournament that kicks off tomorrow, June 21, 2019 in Egypt.