Czech Republic goalkeeper Petr Cech blamed an early goal for the surprise 2-0 defeat to Ghana on Saturday.

Asamoah Gyan struck in the second minute in Cologne to set the Ghanaians on their way to the country's first-ever World Cup win.

Cech was left frustrated by his side having to alter their gameplan following the early goal.

"We had a psychological advantage of having three points from the first game, Ghana had nothing, but this was turned to their favour after one hundred seconds," the Chelsea goalkeeper said. "The early goal meant we had to attack an organised defence.

"Ghana players are well-prepared athletes and they managed to capitalise on the open space in our defence.

"They created a lot of chances," he added.

Sulley Muntari scored Ghana's second goal in the 82nd minute, but not before Gyan had missed a penalty in the 64th minute.

The African side missed a host of other opportunities and Cech admitted he thought his side would find a way back into the game.

"When Ghana wasted so many chances and missed the penalty kick I began to believe that we would finally score and it would have a good end," Cech said.

Czech Republic midfielder Pavel Nedved agreed with Cech about the significance of the early goal.

"We should not have conceded the early goal, that made it easy for Ghana and it formed the course of the game," Nedved said.

"We did not play our football. We had to try to chase the loss and we did not have power for it. We were trying hard, but had problems."

Nedved, whose team have three points after a win and a loss in their opening two Group E games, highlighted the absence of strikers Jan Koller and Milan Baros as a reason for his side's lack of threat in front of goal.

"Jan Koller or Milan Baros would be missed in any team, but we are used to playing with one forward," he said.

"We wanted to wait in composed defence and strike, but we could not even start with such tactics."

With Italy as their final opponents in the group stages, Nedved knows his side face an uphill task as they look to qualify.

"Now we will play for the promotion with Italy, the strongest opponent in our group, one of the candidates for the title," Nedved said.

"We have injuries and have lost some players due to cards, we are in difficult situation."