Ghana make history as Czechs falter

Goals from Asamoah Gyan and Sulley Muntari saw Ghana claim their first FIFA World Cup victory at the expense of ten-man Czech Republic. The debutants also recorded the first win by an African team at the current tournament, turning the tables on a Czech outfit that was a shadow of the side that recorded an impressive 3-0 opening victory against the USA.

Blunted attack
It took just 70 seconds for Gyan to open the scoring, chesting down a through ball and firing an accurate left-footed shot past Petr Čech and inside the right-hand corner. The stars of the Czechs' opening match, Pavel Nedvěd and Tomáš Rosický, only fired intermittently and both men were reduced to aiming long shots at Richard Kingston's goal. With leading strikers Jan Koller and Milan Baroš missing through injury they lacked a cutting edge and hardly managed an attempt on goal until second-half stoppage time.

Gyan chances
Ghana midfielders Michael Essien, Stephen Appiah and Muntari outbattled their counterparts, setting up chance after chance for the lively Gyan, who could have had a hat-trick but for some superb saves from Čech. Midway through the second period the ailing Czechs were reduced to ten after Tomáš Ujfaluši was ordered off for a foul inside the box on Matthew Amoah, but Gyan struck the resultant penalty against the post.

Czechs in peril
Muntari made the points safe eight minutes from time with a left-foot shot high into the net from ten metres that gave Čech no chance. Having looked set fair for the knockout stages the Czechs will almost certainly need something from their final game against Italy, for which they will suffer from an acute shortage of forwards after Vratislav Lokvenc picked up a suspension.