HAMBURG, June 22 (Xinhua) -- Italy beat ten-man Czech Republic 2-0 in their last Group E match at the World Cup here on Thursday to top the group, while the Czechs were eliminated as African debutants Ghana edged the United States 2-1 to finish runners-up.

    After the match, Italy coach Marcello Lippi showered his team with praise. He said: "This team has terrific spirit, probably the most fighting spirit I've had in any team."

    "We deserve to qualify, we played two great games to beat Ghana and Czech Republic, two very difficult teams.

    "Finishing top of the group was very important for many reasons, but even if we had to play Brazil in the next round we'd have given it our best shot."

    The two Italian goals all came from substitutes. Defender Marco Materazzi, who substituted injured Alessandro Nesta in the first half, headed a corner home in the 26th minute to gift Italy 1-0 lead over desperate Czechs.

    The goal was the second shot and first shot on goal for Italy in the first half which witnessed the Czechs in domination.

    Filippo Inzaghi, who replaced Alberto Gilardino in the second half, sealed the win for Italy in the 87th minute when he beat an offside trap, dribbling the ball from midfield to the penalty area, and danced past the keeper Petr Cech to steer the ball into the open net.

    Italy only need a tie for advancement but the Czechs must win to ensure a berth in the last 16.

    The Czechs played fierce attacking football from the very beginning, forcing the Italians to defend in most of the time.

    Czech star forward Milan Baros, who missed his team's two previous World Cup matches for injury, was put through by a delicious curling pass from world-class midfielder Pavel Nedved only nine minutes into the game, but the Aston Villa striker's touch was heavy and Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon smothered.

    Nedved was the most active and shinning Czech player on the pitch. He rifled in a low left-foot shot from 20 yards in the 13th minute, forcing Buffon to make a deep dive.

    It was Buffon who rescued again in the 17th when he denied Nedved's wonderful scoring chance.

    After the Italians' first goal, the Czechs played more fiercely and lost defensive midfielder Jan Polak just before the interval.

    Polak, who had earlier been booked for a crude challenge on Mauro Camoranesi, brought down Francesco Totti from behind and was given a second yellow.

    Czech coach Karel Bruckner believed Polak's sending off at the end of the first half consigned his side to their 2-0 defeat against Italy.

    "Playing with 10 men was just too difficult," said Brueckner, "We lost a lot of players before the game and had suspensions which hurt us in this tournament."

    Besides Baros, the 2.02-meter center forward Jan Koller suffered a serious injury in the United States game in which the Czechs enjoyed a 3-0 win. That was the only win they got in the 2006 World Cup.

    The Czechs showed strong determination in the second half, strengthening their attacks despite conceding a man.

    Bruckner brought on skilful winger Jiri Stajner in place of veteran Karel Poborsky at the interval and his side pushed forward in search of goals.

    The talismanic Nedved surged forward from midfield to find himself one-on-one with Buffon after only a few minutes.

    Nedved broke through the defense line in the 53rd minute but his low blast was saved by Buffon.

    On 62 minutes, Baros, who was not in his best form on the pitch,jumped high to make a powerful header which went over the crossbar. That was the only shot today made by the striker. He was substituted minutes later.

    Although Inzaghi scored a goal for Italy today, he squandered at least two absolute scoring chances in the area. The whole Italian team did not play with intent in the second half and missed nearly a dozen of chances to score.

    Italy will play the runners-up from Group F - likely to be Australia so far - in Kaiserslautern on Monday. Enditem