Ghana captain has broken his silence on the costly penalty miss against Uruguay as the Black Stars were eliminated from the FIFA World Cup.
The Black Stars only needed a point to join Group H winners Portugal in the round of 16 on Friday evening, but things did not go as planned in the 'revenge' game against Uruguay.
Twelve years ago, Asamoah Gyan missed a penalty against the Uruguayans in a World Cup quarter-final in South Africa and they went on to lose in a penalty shoot-out.
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This time around, Ayew had his penalty saved by goalkeeper Sergio Rochet by in the 21st minute, before Giorgian de Arrascaeta bagged a brace before the halftime break to seal the 2-0 win for the South Americans.
We had the opportunity to get to the next stage. I missed the penalty. It's difficult to take," " Ayew said after the game, as per Ghanasoccernet.
"We did not get it right. I am very optimistic for the future. I am sad but we will try and make it better."
Mohammed Kudus, who was argubly the standout performer for Ghana, defended his captain after the defeat.
"I don't think the penalty miss by Andre Ayew was the key moment in the match, the easiest thing we can do is to blame one person," Kudus told the media, as per Ghana FA website.
"In the second half I also got chances that I could have scored, it qualified as a penalty also so we all had chances to have an effect in the game so I don't really think the penalty had an effect on the whole performance.
"Andre is a great leader and a great captain. After the penalty miss, he was still in the game and stood up for the team like everyone did but the result went the other way so we learn from it and stay positive."
