Italy comfortably beat 10-man Czech Republic to progress to the knock-out stages of the World Cup as Group E winners. Former Everton defender Marco Materazzi gave the Azzurri a 25th-minute lead having only come on as a substitute eight minutes earlier before another replacement, Filippo Inzaghi, killed the game off four minutes from time. Ghana clinched a place in the last 16 of the World Cup against Brazil by ending the hopes of the United States with victory in Nuremberg. Haminu Dramani gave Ghana, who lost their group opener to Italy, the lead after he robbed Claudio Reyna but Clint Dempsey’s first-time shot made it 1-1. Stephen Appiah restored Ghana’s lead from a controversial penalty – awarded against USA defender Oguchi Onyewu. Ghana is the sixth nation from Africa to progress beyond the group stage. Since 1986, each World Cup has seen one African nation qualifying from the group stages for the knock out section. The most successful have been Cameroon in 1990 and Senegal in 2002 who both reached the quarter-final stage. With an age of 23 years and 352 days, Ghana’s starting line-up was the youngest of the 2006 World Cup. The three youngest starting line-ups have all been fielded by Ghana. Clint Dempsey’s equaliser for the United States was the 100th goal of this tournament. Meanwhile, in a group F game, Australia made history by twice coming from behind against Croatia to earn the point they needed to claim a place in the Round of 16 of the FIFA World Cup. On a nervy night, Croatia opened the scoring through Darijo Srna’s second-minute free-kick. Craig Moore drew Australia level from the penalty spot on 38 minutes but the balance swung back Croatia’s way when Niko Kovac’s shot was fumbled by Zeljko Zalac in the 56th minute. However, Harry Kewell struck the decisive second Australian goal 11 minutes from time. Finally, a Ronaldo-inspired Brazil battled back from a goal down to beat Japan and eliminate the Asian champions from the tournament. Ronaldo, the adidas Golden Shoe winner at Korea/Japan 2002, went into the match in Dortmund level with compatriot Pele on 12 goals. His first goal of the night, a header just before the interval, brought him level with Frenchman Just Fontaine, who scored 13 goals in the 1958 finals. Ronaldo then hit a stunning effort on 81 minutes to draw level with Muller.

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