GHANA’s Football Association (GFA) is holding talks with striker Asamoah Gyan, after he said he has quit international football “indefinitely”. The GFA says Gyan acted because he was “frustrated over the verbal abuse he has received” since the Africa Cup of Nations. “The GFA is [urging] him to reconsider his decision,” a statement said. Gyan’s move follows Ghana’s Nations Cup semi-final defeat by Zambia, in which he had a penalty saved. The player has come under sustained criticism following the Black Stars’ failure to win the continental crown. Ghana face a number of crucial international matches in the near future - with 2014 World Cup qualifying beginning in June. Amongst the teams in Ghana’s group in the race to Brazil are the newly-crowned African champions, Zambia. They will also face a two-legged tie in September and October for a place in the finals of the 2013 Nations Cup in South Africa. Gyan’s failure to score from the spot echoed the World Cup quarter-final in 2010, when he hit the cross-bar with a penalty in the final moments of extra-time. Had he scored, Ghana would have almost certainly have gone through to the semis. Instead they lost the subsequent shoot-out to Uruguay. Gyan is currently on loan from English Premier League side Sunderland to the UAE-based team Al Ain.
