Ghana produced a powerful display of attacking football to dismantle a toothless Czech Republic 2-0 in Cologne, in an exciting contest which saw the Czechs have a man sent off and Ghana miss a penalty.
Asamoah Gyan gave Ghana the perfect start with his goal just after a minute, and the West Africans went on to dominate proceedings throughout the 90 minutes, in which Czech Republic's striking deficiencies, without Milan Baros and Jan Koller, were only too visible.
Gyan missed a second half penalty after Tomas Ujfalusi had been red carded, but they still continued pounding the Czech goal and only the brilliance of Petr Cech kept them at bay, until Sully Muntari finally sealed their first ever World Cup win with his late second.
Ghana were in front barely 90 seconds into the contest as they stunned the Czechs with an early strike, which followed a nervy clearance from a corner from Cech.
Stephen Appiah clipped the rebound back towards the box and Gyan controlled the ball well on his chest before slotting expertly past Cech to remarkably put the African's 1-0 up in just the second minute.
Marek Jankulovski fired wired and Pavel Nedved stung Ghana keeper Richard Kingston's hands as Karel Bruckner's men looked for a quick response.
The Czech defending always looked a bit edgy though, and Appiah was allowed to travel a long way before he sliced his shot wide.
Ghana were out-muscling their European opponents while their work-rate ensured they got amongst the Czechs, but there was also good football to go with it.
Matthew Amoah was fed into the box after a good move but his bad touch forced him to turn and, although he was still given space, he blazed well over the bar.
The lively Gyan broke through again on the half hour but this time his finish was far less convincing and he hit it right at Cech who had gone down early.
Cech was frozen to the spot when Appiah fired in a bobbling shot from outside the box minutes later, and the Chelsea man was relieved to see the ball sneak barely a foot wide of the post.
The first real move of quality from the Czechs only came two minutes before the break but Tomas Rosicky could not convert Karel Poborsky's clever pull back under pressure from Michael Essien.
Ghana countered with a great move of their own just before the interval down the right flank, but Essien's shot was blocked.
The second half nearly started the same as the first when Nedved headed the ball past Kingston within a minute of the restart, but the goal was chalked off for offside.
Gyan had a powerful shot well turned aside by Cech after a strong run, while Jaroslav Plasil's effort was tipped over by Kingston at the other end.
The game tipped even further in Ghana's favour in the 65th minute when Tomas Ujfalusi tripped Amoah inside the box, handing the African's a penalty.
Argentinian referee Horacio Elizondo hardly covered himself in glory with his handling of the situation though, as he took an age to produce the inevitable red card as Ujfalusi was clearly the last man.
To make matters worse, Gyan smashed the penalty past Cech but as the referee was not ready, he harshly booked the Ghana forward - ruling him out of the final group game.
The incident was capped off by Gyan smacking the penalty against the post when it was eventually re-taken.
With a man extra though, Ghana started to pile on the pressure and went searching for a second goal, only to be thwarted a host of times by Cech.
Amoah's 72nd-minute shot was first beaten away, while Muntari's effort just a minute later was stopped by the big keeper's legs.
Ghana were in no mood to settle for the 1-0 and their refreshing attacking instincts yielded another chance on 77 minutes for Essien, but he could not beat his club team-mate Cech.
Amoah fed Gyan on the edge of the box in yet another lightening break by Ghana, but yet again Cech was there to save his weak effort.
Ghana finally put the game to bed eight minutes before time and, as ever, Gyan was involved as he made his way into the box before supplying Muntari, who this time made no mistake in rifling high into the roof of the net.
Razak Pimpong danced through the Czech backline in the final minute before setting up Muntari for his second, but he had strayed offside and the goal was disallowed.
Kingston was called into late action in stoppage time and he produced two fine saves from Plasil and substitute Jan Polak to preserve the clean sheet Ghana had fully deserved.
The result was still a superb one for Ghana though, as they completely took apart what looked like a fine Czech side in the first game against USA, and they will now be eyeing the second round, while Czech Republic have big problems to address.
Asamoah Gyan gave Ghana the perfect start with his goal just after a minute, and the West Africans went on to dominate proceedings throughout the 90 minutes, in which Czech Republic's striking deficiencies, without Milan Baros and Jan Koller, were only too visible.
Gyan missed a second half penalty after Tomas Ujfalusi had been red carded, but they still continued pounding the Czech goal and only the brilliance of Petr Cech kept them at bay, until Sully Muntari finally sealed their first ever World Cup win with his late second.
Ghana were in front barely 90 seconds into the contest as they stunned the Czechs with an early strike, which followed a nervy clearance from a corner from Cech.
Stephen Appiah clipped the rebound back towards the box and Gyan controlled the ball well on his chest before slotting expertly past Cech to remarkably put the African's 1-0 up in just the second minute.
Marek Jankulovski fired wired and Pavel Nedved stung Ghana keeper Richard Kingston's hands as Karel Bruckner's men looked for a quick response.
The Czech defending always looked a bit edgy though, and Appiah was allowed to travel a long way before he sliced his shot wide.
Ghana were out-muscling their European opponents while their work-rate ensured they got amongst the Czechs, but there was also good football to go with it.
Matthew Amoah was fed into the box after a good move but his bad touch forced him to turn and, although he was still given space, he blazed well over the bar.
The lively Gyan broke through again on the half hour but this time his finish was far less convincing and he hit it right at Cech who had gone down early.
Cech was frozen to the spot when Appiah fired in a bobbling shot from outside the box minutes later, and the Chelsea man was relieved to see the ball sneak barely a foot wide of the post.
The first real move of quality from the Czechs only came two minutes before the break but Tomas Rosicky could not convert Karel Poborsky's clever pull back under pressure from Michael Essien.
Ghana countered with a great move of their own just before the interval down the right flank, but Essien's shot was blocked.
The second half nearly started the same as the first when Nedved headed the ball past Kingston within a minute of the restart, but the goal was chalked off for offside.
Gyan had a powerful shot well turned aside by Cech after a strong run, while Jaroslav Plasil's effort was tipped over by Kingston at the other end.
The game tipped even further in Ghana's favour in the 65th minute when Tomas Ujfalusi tripped Amoah inside the box, handing the African's a penalty.
Argentinian referee Horacio Elizondo hardly covered himself in glory with his handling of the situation though, as he took an age to produce the inevitable red card as Ujfalusi was clearly the last man.
To make matters worse, Gyan smashed the penalty past Cech but as the referee was not ready, he harshly booked the Ghana forward - ruling him out of the final group game.
The incident was capped off by Gyan smacking the penalty against the post when it was eventually re-taken.
With a man extra though, Ghana started to pile on the pressure and went searching for a second goal, only to be thwarted a host of times by Cech.
Amoah's 72nd-minute shot was first beaten away, while Muntari's effort just a minute later was stopped by the big keeper's legs.
Ghana were in no mood to settle for the 1-0 and their refreshing attacking instincts yielded another chance on 77 minutes for Essien, but he could not beat his club team-mate Cech.
Amoah fed Gyan on the edge of the box in yet another lightening break by Ghana, but yet again Cech was there to save his weak effort.
Ghana finally put the game to bed eight minutes before time and, as ever, Gyan was involved as he made his way into the box before supplying Muntari, who this time made no mistake in rifling high into the roof of the net.
Razak Pimpong danced through the Czech backline in the final minute before setting up Muntari for his second, but he had strayed offside and the goal was disallowed.
Kingston was called into late action in stoppage time and he produced two fine saves from Plasil and substitute Jan Polak to preserve the clean sheet Ghana had fully deserved.
The result was still a superb one for Ghana though, as they completely took apart what looked like a fine Czech side in the first game against USA, and they will now be eyeing the second round, while Czech Republic have big problems to address.
