Ghana have beaten the Czech Republic 2-0 in an astonishing contest in their Group E World Cup match against the Czech Republic in Cologne on Saturday.

Ghana scored their first-ever goal in the World Cup Finals after Modena striker Asamoah Gyan smashed the opening goal in the second minute against the heavily fancied Czech Republic with Sulley Muntari Sealing the win in the second-half after the Czech Republic were reduced to 10-men in the second period.

Asamoah Gyan opened the scoring in less than 75 seconds of the match after beautifully bringing down a cross from the halfway line and striking it past Czech Republic and Chelsea keeper Petr Cech.

His Chelsea team-mate, Michael Essien was relishing his space in midfield and for the first ten minutes of the match the World Cup debutantes had the majority of possession before the Czech’s began to find their feet.

Pavel Nedved had a shot on goal easily saved by the Ghana keeper Richard Kingston, who saw little of the ball in the opening period.

Ghana’s captain Stephen Appiah had a shot go just wide in the 14th minute from long-range, which forced Cech to dive. The Czech’s just couldn’t get any control in midfield, without giving the Czech’s any space to play.

Zdenek Grygera was forced into a couple of clearances as the Ghanaians pushed, but Otto Addo received the first caution of the match after a lunge on Jaroslav Plasil, but the Czech’s failed to capitalise.

Both sides pushed, but mostly had long-range shots that were easily saved, with Ghana tackling hard and never giving any space to the Czech Republic.

Karel Poborsky had a shot cross past the goal at the half-hour mark, but on the break Gyan passed beautifully to captain Amoah, who turned well but couldn’t get his shot on target.

The Czech’s had a couple of half-chances that were easily dealt with by the athletic Black Stars, but the Czech’s had more spark to their play as the half came to a close.

Stephen Appiah came very close again in the 40th minute, with a 30-yard strike that went just wide and had Petr Cech rooted to the spot, watching it go just inches wide of his right-post.

Arsenal’s new signing Tomas Rosicky came close to equalising in injury-time, but his shot went harmlessly wide.

Ghana deserved the half-time lead, after having been impressive in the first period.

The Czech’s thought they had scored in the opening minute of the second-half when Pavel Nedved made the net bulge, but his effort was ruled offside by the linesman.

Vratislav Lokvenc received a yellow card very early in the second-half, meaning that he will miss the last Group E game against Italy.

This now means that the Czech’s are in very short supply of strikers for that match, with Jan Koller and Milan Baros both very unlikely to recover from injury in time.

Amoah and the goalscorer Gyan were doing extremely well in attack and Gyan had an effort pushed away for a corner by Cech in the 51st minute, but the corner was wasted.

Karel Poborky was substituted for Jiri Staijner, and Staijner almost made a telling pass as soon as he entered the fray, with Jaroslav Plasil having a shot well saved by Kingston.

Both sides had weak efforts on goal, with neither goalkeeper being tested, but the Czech’s were pushing harder, with the Black Stars attacking on the break.

Sulley Muntari started a break for the Ghanaians, which found Matthew Amoah, who was brought down by Tomas Ujfalusi in the penalty area for a Ghana penalty in the 65th minute and seeing Ujfalusi being sent-off and Gyan seeing a yellow-card for taking the penalty early – meaning he will miss the match against the USA.

Gyan – who was the scorer of the first goal – stepped up to take the penalty and sent Petr Cech the wrong way, but his shot hit the post and rebounded away to safety to the relief of the 10-man Czech Republic.
Petr Cech was immense in goal, saving at close-range from Sulley Muntari and Matthew Amoah after the Czech’s left space in defence, with any Czech counter-attack being easily repelled by the Black Stars’ defenders.

Essien saw his shot blocked by his Chelsea team-mate Cech in the 78th minute as the Black Stars pressed home their numerical advantage.

Cech saved another fine shot from Gyan a minute later, with the Chelsea shot-stopper having denied Ghana at least four clear chances at goal.

Amoah was subbed for Eric Addo with ten minutes to go, in an attempt from the Ghana coach Ratomir Dujkovic to protect the lead.

But the game was won by Ghana in the 81st minute after Gyan was played onside and he passed to Sulley Muntari who shot the ball high into the net past Cech to make it 2-0.

Asamoah Gyan was booked a minute later meaning that he too would miss the game against the USA and he was substituted a minute later by Razak Pimpong, who also made his mark on the match.

Ghana were just playing for fun in the last minutes of the match, relishing their two-goal lead and even though Kingston was called into two late saves, the Czech's never really caused a problem.

The Black Stars celebrated wildly at the final whistle after having totally commanded the game throughout and with their first-ever World Cup win tucked under their belts.