Ghanaians pray for World Cup luck

Accra, June 17 -- Ghana's usually optimistic football fans are holding their breath before Saturday's do-or-die World Cup match with the Czech Republic where they probably need victory to keep alive hopes of reaching the knock-out stages.

Ghana gave Italy a run for their money before going down 2-0 but the Czechs looked a class act as they crushed the United States 3-0.

"I know the Italians are strong but I was not scared of them. I felt we could match them. But against the Czech Republic, my confidence is rather low," said Henry Oduro, an IT specialist.

Sammy Kuffour, the AS Roma defender has apologised for his costly error that gifted the Italians the second goal.

"My prime aim is to play very well on Saturday and pray for the favour of God to enable us to win," he said.

But the fans are fearing the worst.

"I watched the Czechs and we can only pray that we have luck on our side. We will need tons of luck to pick up a good result," Oduro said.

Ghana are 50 places behind the Czechs in the FIFA world rankings and Ghana's Serbian coach Ratomir Djukovic was under no illusions.

"We have to win to remain in the competition," he said, adding: "The Black Stars are determined to make up for the Italy loss."

Kwasi Nyantakyi, president of the Ghana Football Association said: "The boys are motivated. They have put the defeat to Italy behind them and they need to psyche themselves up for Saturday."