Asamoah Gyan, together with Samuel Eto’o and Didier Drogba all made the final
shorlist of three vying for the CAF African Player Award, and it will be a big
shame and total disgrace to the entire CAF institution if Gyan did not win the
award come 20th December 2010 in Cairo.
In regard to the award, Asamoah Gyan, Roger Milla and El Hadji Diouf (past
winners) all have some facts in common, and crowning Gyan with the award this
year will only help to complete the list of the things they share in common.
They are all strikers. They are all right footed players. They have all played
in the French League before. Though they are strikers, they are not prolific
goal scorers (debatable). They have all played in the African cup of nations and
scored. They all played in the FIFA World Cup. They all played in the quarter
final stage of the World Cup. None scored in the quarter final stage of the
World Cup. Their singular performances help their teams to the last 8 of the
World Cup. All their various teams exited the World Cup in the quarter final
stage after 120 minutes (extra time).
Now the final common thing they are suppose to share is, their singular
performances that helped their teams to the quarter final stage of the World Cup
got them nominated for the CAF African Player Award and won it.
Now, Milla and Diouf won it under such circumstances and why not Asamoah Gyan?.
When Milla won it in 1990, he was then retired, and it took a phone call from
none other person than the then Cameroonian president, Paul Biya before he
boarded the plane to Italy for the World Cup competition. At the competition, he
was not a first team player, a substitute who played just 20 -15 minutes of each
game. This means Milla had played just about a total of 90 minutes at the entire
World Cup and scored 4 goals, and that was all he needed to win the best African
player award that year (90 minutes display for a whole year earned him the
award). This does not mean there were no other players doing well at the time.
George Oppong Wear, our own Abedi Ayew Pele, Rabah Madjer and a host of others
were in remarkable form for their clubs and country but not at the World Cup.
With this, CAF is claiming that the World Cup is the toughest and most
competitive in the world, and if a player could go there and perform creditably,
he should be recognized duly. And this, I fully support because the World Cup is
arguably the best. It is a platform for the best players to exhibit their worth.
It supersedes any other soccer competition on this planet, and every continent
is equally represented.
El Hadji Diouf followed the trend in 2002 by winning the award after a
remarkable performance at the World Cup. He won it the year before, but it was
no doubt that his excellent display at the World cup earned him the second award
that year. But unlike Roger Milla in 1990, he earned some extra marks at other
areas. He led a youthful Senegalese team to the African nations cup finals in
Mali at the young age of 21, before he later took them again to the last 8 of
the World Cup in Japan-Korea 2002. Again unlike Milla, he played almost all the
entire duration of all the 5 matches his team played at competition and he was
selected in the FIFA all star team at the end of the tournament. So, it was no
wonder he won the award that year. Now, Asamoah Gyan, compared to Milla and
Diouf in the years they won the awards, performed a little ahead, and that is
what I expect CAF and the 53 coaches who will decide the winner to recognize.
Playing for a lesser team like Rennes in the French Ligue 1, he scored 13 goals
in the 2009-10 season. Then, in-between the French season, he led a relatively
young Ghanaian side, deprived of key performers like Michael Essien, Stephen
Appiah, John Painstil, John Mensah and Sulley Muntari to the Grand finals of the
2010 Afrrica Cup of Nations in Angola before losing gallantly to their more
experienced Egypt side. In Angola, the other 2 who made the final cut, Eto’o and
Drogba were present but their presence was not felt in anyway. But Gyan scored 3
of the 4 crucial goals Ghana needed to make the grand finals. He was the third
best player of the Competition and was duly recognized in the CAf best eleven
players of the competition.
Then came the World cup itself later in the year, competition of all
competitions. Again he proved what he did in Angola was no fluke, he scored
three of the four vital goals which helped Ghana to reach the last eight of the
competition. Though he missed a crucial penalty that could have earned Ghana a
historical last four place for Africa, his only imperfection in the year, but
penalties don’t determine how good a player is, does it? He chalked two man of
the match awards in his first two games of the world cup, against Serbia and
Australia. His techniques and general contribution to the game was adjudged
second to only Lionel Messi, by FIFA technical group of the competition after
the first round of matches. He eventually got nominated for the best player of
the tournament award won by Diego Folan of Uruguay. Again the other two
contenders for the CAF award this year, Samuel Eto’o and Didier Drogba were at
the big party, but could not stand to be counted. He was also one of the 23
nominated for the FIFA best player of the year award before it was cut to the
final three of Messi, Aniesta and Xavi.
After the world cup, his excellent performance at the competition caught the
eyes of many coaches and teams across the world and was linked to a host of
them. He eventually signed for Sunderland in the English premiership for 13
million pounds (Sunderland highest record signing). He did not end there, with
just 5 starts for his new club; he scored five times, not bad for a new player.
He is also in the running for the BBC African Player of the year Award later
this year.
Now what are the achievements of the other two challengers? Eto’o won the treble
with Inter Milan with a performance not as good compared to when he won
everything with Barcelona. Though he top the scorers chart of the Uefa champions
league his team struggled to make the second round of the competition. Drogba on
the other hand was the top scorer in the English premier league and help Chelsea
to the league title and FA cup double.
Why they don’t have a chance against Gyan.
Eto’o’s Inter Milan placed a miserable 8th position in the Italian serie A and
he has just recently fined and given two match ban for a head butt on an
opponent in a league match.Drogba’s Chelsea are currently struggling in the
premier league in fourth place. To sum it all, the two flopped in two major
tournaments (The African Cup of Nations and the FIFA World Cup) in the year
under review; compared to Gyan who shone in all competitions he took part. This
is Asamoah Gyan’s year, and he has only himself to beat for this award. But if
CAF and the 53 coaches on the continent who will decide the winner think
otherwise then it would be a shame and their credibility will forever be in
