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World Cup: Ghanaians hoping to capitalize on Czech injuries

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Ghana v Czech Republic

With the Czech Republic missing two key strikers, Ghana hopes it has gained an advantage for its first-round World Cup match today.

However, advantages come in all sizes, and even without Jan Koller and Milan Baros, Black Stars coach Ratomir Dujkovic acknowledges the Czechs have plenty in reserve.

"The Czechs have quality, they like to win and they always have a strategy to beat any team," Dujkovic said heading in to today's Group E match in Cologne. "But I believe the Ghana Black Stars ... this time will score and get a better result than against Italy."

Koller scored in the Czechs' stylish 3-0 opening victory against the US, while midfielder Tomas Rosicky added the other two.

Ghana is trying to invigorate its attack, after losing 2-0 to Italy and producing few chances.

The Black Stars are likely to again rely heavily on the midfield skills of captain Stephen Appiah, Michael Essien of Chelsea, and Udinese's Suli Muntari, but lack the depth to consider major changes.

Instead, Dujkovic hinted at tactical changes, requiring midfielders to provide greater attacking support to Ghana's striking duo -- likely to remain Matthew Amoah and Asamoah Gyan.

Midfielders also are important for Czech coach Karel Bruckner.

They include Arsenal's new signing Rosicky, Juventus' Pavel Nedved, fellow-veteran Karel Poborsky and captain Tomas Galasek of Ajax Amsterdam.

Nedved came out of international retirement to help the Czechs reach the World Cup with playoff wins against Norway.

"We will mark [Nedved] in the danger zone ... but Nedved is not the only dangerous player in this team," Dujkovic said.

In attack, Salzburg's Vratislav Lokvenc could replace Koller, having already come in for him in the Czech's game against the US.

"Our opponent's a tough one. We'll have to be uncompromising in defense and score the first goal," Lokvenc said.

The striker could cause problems for the west Africans who have few tall players.

Both countries are making their first appearance in the World Cup appearance in Germany, but the Czechs reached the tournament eight times as part of Czechoslovakia, and were semifinalists in the 2004 European Championship before losing to winner Greece.

They are currently ranked second by FIFA, 46 places higher than Ghana.

But Ghana captain Appiah said he still thinks Ghana can reach the second round. All four African newcomers -- Ghana, Angola, Togo and Ivory Coast -- lost their opening matches.

"We lost our first game but we're not out of the tournament," he said. "We've learned from our mistakes and we will fight till the end."

Ghana play the Czech Republic at midnight tonight Taiwan time.
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