Asamoah Gyan is the ultimate international football man, the ultimate tournament man too and if he gets his place in the final squad, there would not be many arguing against that. It would be his 11thstraight tournament for Ghana spread over a 15-year period. Nine of the 10 he has played in have been with the Black Stars. And he has scored in each one of them.
His first tournament goal was hugely significant too. Scored under 3 minutes after the game started, it became the fastest goal at the 2006 World Cup.
He didn’t score again in that tournament but it set the tone for five other world cup goals including three in South Africa as Ghana reached the quarter finals but he is also hugely remembered for the penalty miss that could have taken Ghana to the semi-final of the world cup.
In the Nations Cup, he has been a standard bearer for Ghana. His six appearances since 2008 is a record for a Ghanaian player. If he travels to Egypt, he would move joint second on most tournament appearances in Africa.
He has scored in every one of the tournaments too but his most prolific competition came nine years ago in Angola when his three goals knocked out Angola in the quarter-finals and beat Nigeria in the semis for a place in the final.
Apart from that he has been limited to one goal in every Nations Cup he has played and a fair dose of the near misses and intense criticisms that has dogged his international career.
He opened the scoring at Ghana 2008 and then threatened to go home as criticism of his poor finishing intensified. In 2012, he missed a penalty in the semi-final defeat to Zambia and then took time off international football.
And in 2015, he watched on as Ghana blew a 2-0 penalty lead against Ivory Coast to miss out on a first Nations Cup title since 1982.
You have to wonder now which Gyan would show up in Egypt.
By Yaw Ofosu Larbi|3news.com|Ghana