Ghanaian defender John Paintsil, who plays for Hapoel Tel Aviv paid tribute to Israeli fans by waving their flag after Ghana scored their second goal, triggering a wave of criticism and fury in the Arab world.

"He is obviously unaware of the implications of what he did. He's unaware of international politics," GFA spokesman Randy Abbey said in a press conference.

"We apologize to anybody who was offended and we promise that it will never happen again," he added.

Abbey explained that his country and especially the FA have no position regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict.

"He did not act out of malice for the Arab people or in support of Israel. He was naive... we don't need to punish him.

"We are not in support or against Israel or the Arab nations. We are here to do football, we are not here to do politics."

World Cup debutants Ghana have a shot at qualifying for the round of 16 when they face USA in their final Group E match on Thursday.