Gyan takes the heat for shock defeat

BATA - Ghana striker Asamoah Gyan is the Black Stars' public enemy No1 after Wednesday's Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinal loss to Zambia.

The Sunderland forward, on loan to Al-Ain, was on the receiving end of vitriolic abuse on social networking site Twitter from Ghana fans who held him solely responsible for their team's shock 1-0 demise.

Overlooking Gyan's contribution in getting Ghana into the last-four, they honed in on his first-half penalty miss.

Awarded for a foul on Kwadwo Asamoah by Davies Nkausu, Gyan's tame spot-kick was saved by Zambia keeper Kennedy Mweene who, guessing correctly, dived to his left and pushed the ball away with his left hand.

Gyan, whose three goals were instrumental in Ghana reaching the 2010 Afcon finals, was not at his sharpest and shot timidly at Mweene soon after when put through by Andre Ayew.

Gyan also missed a penalty in the final minute of Ghana's 2010 World Cup quarterfinal against Uruguay, a fact that did not escape Black Stars' Twitter users. Among the milder messages posted by disgruntled fans were: "Please I beg! Don't take any more penalty shootings. Thank you @ASAMOAH- GYAN" and "I tried to defend @ASAMOAH-GYAN from the time he missed in the WC but this is too much you should retire from the team."

Another read: "You let your country down again @ASAMOAH-GYAN".