World Cup: Ghana carry African hopes into second round

Ghana clinched a place in the last 16 after beating USA 2-1. Haminu Dramani gave Ghana the lead after he robbed Claudio Reyna of the ball and delievered a cool finish past Kasey Keller in the 22nd min. Clint Dempsey's first-time shot made it 1-1 in the 43rd min. This was after some great work by DaMarcus Beasley on the left. Determined running and a good low cross gave Dempsey the chance, and he made no mistake. Then referee Markus Merk gave a controversial penalty to Ghana in injury time of the first half. I don't agree with the decision but the Americans have only themselves to blame. Carlos Bocanegra could have just knock the ball out of touch on the left, but instead he hook the ball back infield. WHY??? It was the 46th min and you have just scored! Just knock it out! But no, he hit it infield and the ref gave the penalty. Stephen Appiah made no mistake. From there, the Americans tried to hit back. Brian McBride sent a diving header against the post for the USA after good work by Bobby Convey. The USA is out, a disappointing World Cup after being in the quarters the last time, while Ghana through to face Brazil.

Italy won a convincing 2-0 victory over the Czech Republic. Substitute Marco Materazzi scored the opening goal with a powerful header from Francesco Totti's corner in the 26th min. He jumped over the defence, and I tell you it was some leap. Wow! The man should be a high jumper. The Czech's hopes was then ended when Jan Polak was sent off for a second yellow card in first-half stoppage time. Filippo Inzaghi then scored in the 87th min when he broke clear and rounded Petr Cech. Inzaghi must thank his lucky stars because this was after he missed a sitter earlier. Andrea Pirlo made a run into the Czech's box, the ball fell to Inzaghi, who MISSED from the 6 yard box. It was as bad as the one missed by Kewell againest Brazil. Still, Italy is through and with this form, they will fear no one. The Czechs are out and it was mainly down to the fact that they lost Jan Kollor in the first game. With Nedved gone after this World Cup, I wonder if the Czech will still be a force in world football.

The Italians will face Australia in the second round. Australia and Croatia drew 2-2. Darijo Srna's precise free-kick gave Croatia an early lead in the 3rd min. Australia drew level through Craig Moore's penalty after Stjepan Tomas handled a cross. Why in the world did he handled that cross? A question no one can answer because there can be no good answer. Just plain stupid. Croatia got the lead back in the 56th min, when Nico Kovac's drive somehow got past Zeljko Kalac. Easily the worst goalkeeping mistake thus far in the World Cup. Then in the 79th min, John Aloisi flick on Marco Bresciano's in-swinging cross and Harry Kewell slam it home. Harry Kewell was offside. I'm willing to bet that only Australian fan will aruge with that. On replay he was clearly offside, but even the Croatians players didn't complained as the Australians did deserved the draw. Still, I don't think they will beat Italy unless they show a vast improvement in the next game.

Brazil thrashed Japan 4-1. Keiji Tamada gave Japan a shock lead in the 33rd min but goals from Ronaldo (45 & 81 min), Juninho Pernambucano (53 min) and Gilberto (59 min) gave Brazil the easy win. The fact that Ronaldo scored is great news for Brazil but I'm not convince that they will win the World Cup. They just have too many weakness, especially in midfield. They will face Ghana in the next round and if I'm the Ghanaian coach, I will tell Appiah and Essien to have a good old go at that midfield. Japan are out, nothing surprising as they were always underdogs in this group. They played some good football but have no strikers. Better luck next time!