The Good, Ugly Side of Gyan

GOOD, bad and hopeless - that's how you can summarise Ghana Black Stars striker Gyan Asamoah after he missed yet another crucial penalty, this time in the Nations Cup semi-finals against Zambia.

Good when he scores goals and crowns it with dancing at near the corner flag, bad after missing two penalties - one during the quarter finals of the 2010 World Cup against Uruguay, and on Wednesday against Zambia, and hopeless for being selfish and not being a team player. Take nothing away from Gyan. He is a quality striker with 28 goals in 59 caps. Not a bad record at all.

The latest penalty miss devastated the entire team who, for the first time in the tournament, played well but not well enough. Soccer pundits always say teams who work together will win, whether it is against complex football defences. But for over 20 years, Ghanian teams have generally played individually and until they put aside their pride and think of the team, the fifth title will take long to come.

Zambia will be appearing in their first final since 1994 when they lost 2-1 to Nigeria in Tunisia. Their opponents in the final will be Ivory Coast, who struggled to beat injury-hit Mali 1-0. This is the final as predicted by the Daily Monitor.

However, Ivory Coast coach Francois Zahoui had different view of the match. "Mali is a good side but the conditions made our passing game difficult. But I still believe my players will come out top in the final," Zahoui said, "Zambia play good mobility football but our experience will see us through."