Asamoah Gyan is refusing to give up hope of second round progress for Ghana at the world cup after the shocking defeat to the United States in Natal on Monday.

John Brooks scored a late winner as the USA exacted revenge for two previous losses in the 2006 and 2010 World Cups, leaving Gyan to bemoan what he is convinced was a lack of concentration and a nervous start.

The Ghana captain now admits too that the task of reaching the second round will be more difficult but he is refusing to give up on that.

“I think we did well,” Gyan told AllSports.com.gh. “We dominated the game but we were a bit nervous in the beginning. We lost concentration and the early goal made us even more nervous. When we equalised, we did not concentrate and then conceded from a corner kick which was not good.”

Gyan must now pick up the rest of the team for a crunch game against Germany who were ruthless in their 4-0 thrashing of Portugal earlier in the day.

He said: “Germany have won by four goals so their confidence is high, we have lost and want to come back strongly. We have to stay focused. The confidence is still there even though we have lost. We still have the quality. We don’t have to give up for no reason at all.”