The importance of Asamoah Gyan to this Ghana side was never more evident than on Friday evening when his clinical last-minute finish earned the Black Stars a precious 1-0 win over Algeria.

The quality of the finish spoke volumes about the player - his anticipation to get on the ball, his pace to leave the defence for dead and a perfectly placed shot into the far corner.

With the international retirements of Didier Drogba and Samuel Eto'o, it could well be argued that Gyan is the best of what remains and there are unlikely to be many dissenting voices.

His performance on Monday was perhaps more remarkable given the fact that he had just days earlier suffered from what was described as a mild bout of malaria, but still serious enough to require hospitalisation.

To have played the full 90 minutes and still been as sharp at the end as he was in the beginning is another big feather in his cap.

"Asamoah Gyan was not fit, he didn't train like he needed to train but you know, he is Asamoah Gyan," Ghana coach Avram Grant said of his star man.

"If you look at his stats, if you look at his behaviour in the dressing room you will know he is a great player. He is one of the greatest. No doubt about this.

"First he is always scoring when you need him and second he is good for the spirit of the team, he is a very good captain. And I think you could imagine what would have happened if he had played the first game.

"We played well in the first game compared to our quality but today we played with Asamoah Gyan, he made the difference. He was not fit and for him to put this effort for 96 minutes when you are sick, I don't take it for granted."

Gyan has been leading the Ghana line for the best part of a decade now having first risen to international prominence at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

He has continued to be a force at international tournaments since - including the 2010 World Cup where he missed a penalty to put Ghana into the semifinals, but without him they would probably not have got out the group stages.

He is the kind of player to lead a team to the title, his charisma, passion and quality all make him a winner.

Whether he can do that in 2015 with the Black Stars remains to be seen, but of one thing there is no doubt - they are much better off with him in the side.