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In the second stage of Group E matches, the Ghanaian national team surprisingly convincingly defeated the Czech national team and earned their first three points. Throughout the game, the "Black Stars", who were stronger than their opponents, achieved a deserved victory.
With this loss, the Czechs significantly complicated their situation, as they now have the same number of points as Ghana, but in the final round they will face the group favorites, the Italian national team. Meanwhile, the Ghanaian national team, who played a beautiful game, will test their strength against the USA team.
Czech Republic 0 - 2 Ghana 2‘ [0 – 1] Asamoah Gyan 82‘ [0 – 2] Sulley Muntari
Czech Republic: Cech, Grygera, Rozehnal, Ujfalusi, Jankulovski, Poborsky (55' Stajner), Galasek (45 J Polak), Rosicky, Plasil (68' Sionko), Nedved, Lokvenc. Ghana: Kingston, Pantsil, Mensah, Mohamed, Shilla, Essien, Appiah, Muntari, Otto Addo (45' Boateng), Gyan, Amoah (80' Addo).
The "Black Stars" started the game by earning a corner in the first few seconds. Although they didn't capitalize on it, after a prolonged positional attack, Ghana's footballer Asamoah Gyan led the team in the 2nd minute with a strike into the bottom right corner of the goal, leaving no chances for Petr Cech.
After conceding a goal, the Czechs took the initiative and began to press Ghana, but failed to create more dangerous attacks. The game gradually leveled out, and the ball started moving from one goal to the other. However, there were no dangerous or accurate shots.
In the 30th minute, Karel Poborsky had a dangerous shot near the goal. A few moments later, a dangerous Ghanaian attack. However, Matthew Amoah failed to control the ball properly and his shot from an unfavorable position posed no threat to the Czech goal.
In the 34th minute, the Czechs attacked dangerously. The goalkeeper played unsuccessfully, but the Czechs did not take advantage of the confusion in the "Black Stars" penalty area. A few minutes later, Michael Essien received a warning. Prior to that, a card was shown to another Ghanaian player, Otto Addo.
In the 39th minute, another dangerous shot by the African Stephen Appiah. Although Petr Cech did not react practically to the shot, the ball hit the crossbar near the goal. A few minutes later, the Czechs responded with a dangerous pass into Ghana's penalty area, but Tomas Rosicky shot wide of the goal.
Just at the start of the second half, the Czechs scored a goal. However, the referee spotted Pavel Nedved's offside and the goal was not awarded. In the 49th minute, Vratislav Lokvenc received a warning. Due to the second yellow card, the player will be forced to miss the match against Italy.
In the 52nd minute, the Africans launched a dangerous attack. Asamoah Gyan's powerful shot was blocked by goalkeeper Petr Cech. Four minutes later, the Czechs responded with another dangerous attack - Jaroslav Plasil's shot flew over the goal.
In the 65th minute, the most sensational moment of the match occurred. Tomas Ujfalusi fouled M. Amoah in the penalty area, receiving a red card and leaving the Czechs to play with ten men. A.Gyan attempted a penalty kick without the referee's whistle - he shot accurately, but instead of a goal, he was shown a yellow card.
Due to this, the player, who had been very active in the match, will have to miss the game against the USA. Meanwhile, he had to repeat the penalty kick, and his second attempt was unsuccessful - the ball hit the crossbar and bounced back into play. Ghana failed to capitalize on a hundred percent chance to double their lead.
Nevertheless, Ghana continued to pressure the Czechs. M. Amoah's dangerous run into the penalty area and his powerful shot had to be blocked by the Czech national team's goalkeeper. The disorganized Czech defense was attacked by almost all Ghanaian players, but Petr Cech's excellent performance prevented Ghana from increasing the score - the goalkeeper stopped practically every minute with very dangerous Ghanaian attacks.
Finally, Ghana managed to prove their supremacy - in the 82nd minute, after the Africans' combination in the penalty area, Sulley Muntari found himself free and scored an unstoppable goal into the top corner of the Czech goal, making the score 2-0 in favor of the "Black Stars".
In the 84th minute, Sulley Muntari received his second warning, so both goal scorers in the Ghana team will have to miss the match against the USA.
At the end of the match, Ghana could have expanded their lead and forced the Czech national team to suffer one of the most painful defeats in recent years, but they couldn't capitalize on the opportunities. During extra time, Ghana's goalkeeper Richard Kingston saved his team from Libor Sionko's header.
