By DEREK GATOPOULOS

The Associated Press

COLOGNE, Germany – Ghana delivered Africa’s first victory in this World Cup with style.

The Black Stars stunned the Czech Republic – ranked second in the world – 2-0 Saturday. A goal in the second minute gave them the lead and they peppered the Czech net the rest of the game before finally getting another goal.

Ghana’s win also helped the United States, which tied Italy 1-1 later Saturday. The Italians lead Group E with four points, the Czechs and Ghana have three and the Americans one.

All four are alive to advance, depending on their games Thursday.

Asamoah Gyan scored in the second minute off a piercing pass from captain Stephen Appiah.

It all went the West Africans’ way from then for the biggest upset in Germany so far.

“It’s fantastic. We showed we can do it,” Appiah said. “I thank the Ghanians for their massive support and the Germans, who were shouting ‘Ghana, Ghana.’ I couldn’t believe it. I was nearly crying.”

Czech coach Karel Bruckner had hoped to have qualification sealed before facing Italy on Thursday, but was left to marvel at Saturday’s stunner.

“Our opponent showed extraordinary quality. We couldn’t cope,” Bruckner said.

Heavily outnumbered by Czech fans in the crowd, Ghana’s supporters roared with delight at every chance and danced in their seats in the 45,000-seat Cologne Stadium.

Ghana’s John Pantsil, who plays for Hapoel Tel-Aviv, pulled out an Israeli flag in celebration. John Mensah revealed a T-shirt with an image of Jesus holding a lamb.

Gyan picked up a pass from Appiah and easily beat Cech from just inside the area only 68 seconds into the match. Muntari added the second, sending a rocket of a shot into the upper right corner of the net.

Both goal scorers will miss the next match after successive yellow cards.

Ghana dominated with Appiah and Michael Essien repeatedly exposing weaknesses in the Czech defense.

“It was a good victory for the team, my country and Africa as a whole,” Essien said.

Five African teams are playing in the World Cup: Ghana, Angola, Ivory Coast, Togo and Tunisia.