National coach Fred Osam-Duodu faces a few headaches as he continues his build-up to next year's African Nations Cup finals in Mali. For the past month Osam-Duodu has been making frantic efforts to contact French-based midfielder, Alex Nyarko, after the player announced his international retirement.

Ghana's football authorities, including Abedi Pele, have decided to extend their pursuit of the Monaco midfielder until the final 22-man squad is named for the Nations Cup.

Apart from the uncertainty surrounding Nyarko, Osam-Duodu is also embroiled in a row with local club Asante Kotoko over the release of their players for bi-weekly camping.

The bi-weekly training camp is intended to select the bulk of the home-based players, especially from Goldfields, Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko.

But the exercise is being undermined by the continued irregular presence of players.

Rumours of the impending appointment of a foreign coach have also made Osam-Duodu an uneasy man as he prepares the Black Stars for another assault at the continent's top football prize.

But the coach who led Ghana to Nations Cup triumph in 1978 says he is not unduly worried by the reports of a replacement from Germany.

"I have a job assigned to me and I will not let anyone distract me from doing it," Osam-Duodu told BBC Sport Online in Accra.

Press reports have been suggesting that there are moves behind the scenes to bring in a German coach.

For their part, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has neither denied nor confirmed those reports.

I have a job assigned to me and I will not let anyone distract me from doing it. On Tuesday, Osam-Duodu is expected to confirm a friendly match against Mexico to be played on 19 December. It is anticipated that by that time Nyarko would have reversed his decision and made himself available for national team selection once more