Ghana coach revels in new status

Ghana's win was the first by an African team at Germany 2006

Ghana coach Ratomir Dujkovic was unable to hide his delight after his side's 2-0 win over the Czech Republic.

The Serbian said: "You know as a coach you always have your luggage packed so you are ready to go.

"This is part of the job and in African countries they are very emotional. If the king dies, there is a new king. But now I am a hero in Ghana."

"The goal difference could be very important and it was nice to get two of such high quality."

Highlights: Czech Rep 0-2 Ghana

Dujkovic believed Ghana played so well the African side could have won 5-0 had not keeper Petr Cech played so well for the Czechs.

"Petr Cech is an excellent keeper and he stopped it from being four or five-nil," said Dujkovic.

"It was a very tough game but my players played excellently. I was only surprised it wasn't more than 2-0.

"I think the strikers were sometimes a bit tired in front of goal."

Asamoah Gyan, who gave Ghana the lead after two minutes, said the victory had left the way clear for the African side to reach the last 16.

Ghana's final Group E game is against the United States in Nuremberg on 22 June.

"I think everything's open now," said Gyan, who also missed a second-half penalty.

"The next game against the US is very, very important.

"We made up for our mistakes in the 2-0 defeat against Italy and we showed we can produce a powerful performance. We were the better team."