In one of the most action-packed matches yet in this World Cup tournament, Ghana took it to Czech Republic, winning 2-0 in a game where the score could have been much more lopsided.

The relentless Ghana attack produced chance after chance in the second half as Czech goal keeper Petr Cech had his hands full blocking repeated hard shots from in close. Finally, after 80 scoreless minutes following Ghana's surprise first goal by Asamoah Gyan in the second minute, Sulley Ali Muntari fired home a drive from just in front of the goal. The score was preceded by the precision passing which Ghana displayed throughout the match.

"Everything is open in this group and we have to concentrate on the next game," said Gyan. "The next match against the USA is very important. We managed to clear up the mistakes we made in the first match and improved. The Czechs played as they play, but we were able to vastly improve."

Following a dominating 3-0 win in its opening match against USA, Czech Republic proved unable to crack the Ghana defense and was clearly missing Jan Koller's presence on the attack. The two-meter tall forward tore a muscle in the first half against the USA and will be out anywhere from 10 days to six weeks.

The result was a pedestrian performance with few second half shots, though for moments during the first half, it seemed only a matter of time before the Czechs pushed one through.

The result leaves both Czech Republic and Ghana, which lost its opening match against Italy, with three points in Group E ahead of the Italy-USA match on Saturday night.

As the match wore on Ghana seemed only to get stronger. The second half consisted of wave after wave of attacks forward as the speedy Ghana forwards repeatedly cracked the Czech defense for shots on goal. Only the outstanding play of Cech, who stars for Premier League powerhouse Chelsea, prevented more goals from going in -- though the poor finishing Ghanans often seemed to run out of ideas in front of the Czech net.

The game got off to a lightening quick start as Asamoah Gyan booted home a pass from team captain Stephen Appiah not even two minutes into the match. It was his ninth goal in 15 national team matches.

In the second half, Gyan could have scored a second goal after Matthew Amoah was brought down in the box by Tomas Ujfalusi, who saw red for his troubles. But his penalty shot came back off the right post just seconds after he was given a yellow card for unleashing a first attempt too early. It was his second yellow of the first two games meaning he will be suspended for his team's match against the USA.

Tomas Rosicky and Pavel Nedved were active up front for Czech Republic in the first half with Karel Poborsky shooting just wide across the mouth of the goal in the 30th minute. In the 56th minute, a strong attack ended when Rosicky's cross was just off target and ended in a Jaroslav Pasil shot from the left side which was punched over the goal by Ghana keeper George Owu.

Late in the second half it seemed only a matter of time before Ghana would score again as the Czech defense appeared to tire after being forced catch up to the pressing Ghana attack. Amoah's hard shot was blocked back by the Czech keeper in the 72nd minute and Asamoah likewise couldn't finish in the 78th minute.