Rewind: Czech Republic 0-2 Ghana at World Cup 2006

May 15th, 2010 | by: Ian Rose |

As the World Cup group stage grows tantalizingly close, we can start to look over those 48 group fixtures and think about which will shock us, which will be the surprise of the group stage. In 2006, to my mind anyway, we were a bit short on group stage surprises. In general, the teams that were supposed to win did, moreso I’d say than at a lot of World Cups past. The most surprising result to me was Ghana’s 2-0 win over the Czech Republic in Group E. It’s worth a second look.

It was the second round of matches in Group E, and the favorites had already put their stamp on the group during their first times out. Italy had beaten Ghana 2-0, one goal in each half from Pirlo first and then Iaquinta. The Czechs had demolished the USA 3-0, on two goals from Man of the Match Tomas Rosicky (and one from Jan Koller, he of the big tall head). It looked all too straight-forward to guess who would be coming out of that group.

Moreover, Ghana had reason to be nervous. It was, after all, their first-ever World Cup. They had plenty of talent, especially in a stacked midfield of Addo, Essien, Appiah and Muntari, but didn’t have the international experience of the Czech side. And they faced a goalkeeper in Petr Cech who was on the shortlist for best in the world at the time. That list was going to be topped this tournament by Gigi Buffon, but still … Cech was on great form.

The shock started early, as Gyan Asamoah took a lovely ball in (and admittedly, a defensive error) and snuck the ball past a diving Cech for 1-0 after only 2 minutes. Cech made a brilliant save just after halftime to deny Gyan a second. When Tomas Ujfalusi got himself sent off after the hour mark, it was still 1-0 to the Black Stars, and Sully Muntari made it official in the 82nd minute.

The first win, the first points, in Ghana’s World Cup history. And it would not be their last, and USA fans are well aware. They would beat the Americans 2-1 in the final group match to qualify ahead of the Czechs and USA, and only one point behind Italy. A game to remember not just for Ghanaian fans, but one that, for me, sticks out overall from the group stage of World Cup 2006.

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