CZECH REPUBLIC-GHANA: Coaches' Quotes

17 June 2006

Karel BRUCKNER (CZE)
Firstly congratulations to the Ghana team. We don't take injury and tiredness as excuses for our defeat because our opponents played splendid attacking football today. We made defensive errors and our rivals looked constantly dangerous with their excellent midfielders.

We had two important players missing due to injuries in this game (strikers Milan Baros and Jan Koller) and Vratislav Lokvenc will be banned for the next match. We have yet to decide on the replacements but we need to bring young players in to strengthen the team.

Ratomir DUJKOVIC (GHA)
I am very happy about the team's performances and results because the three points are very important to keep our hopes of reaching the next stage alive. The victory will prove crucial for us and for other teams in the group as well. We played good football today and it was Czech goalkeeper (Petr) Cech who saved his team from conceding more goals. He did his job well between the posts and I am surprised to see that we only scored two goals (laughs).

However, the victory is only one match and I should calm our players down and warn them not to be too excited as our task now is to focus on our preparation for the next game against USA, which will be decisive for both teams.