The Czech Republic's 2-0 surprise defeat at the hands of Ghana on Sunday was worsened by a mounting crisis over a lack of available strikers that could lead to an early World Cup exit. 

First-choice strikers Jan Koller and Milan Baros have been ruled out of the group games with injuries and Vratislav Lokvenc will be suspended for the final group game against Italy after receiving his second yellow card of the tournament. A red card for one of the team's best defenders, Tomas Ujfalusi, makes matters even worse for a Czech team ahead of such a decisive game. 

Coach Karel Brueckner declined to say how he would deal with the deepening line-up problems. 

"We are going to leave these worries for later," Brueckner told reporters after the match. 

Under pressure from an energetic Ghana team for the entire game, the Czech Republic looked like a different side to the one that sparkled in midfield to crush the United States 3-0 in the previous group game. 

Czech goalkeeper Petr Cech said his team's World Cup was not over yet despite the challenge of facing Italy without so many important players. 

"We have played a few times against Italy with good results. We are still confident because we have our destiny in our own hands," Cech told reporters.