Czechs mull how to beat Italy without key players

COLOGNE, June 18 (Reuters) The Czech Republic not only need to work out how to beat Italy to guarantee World Cup survival but to do it with a much depleted squad.

A surprise 2-0 defeat to Ghana Yesterday has badly dented the Czechs' chances of qualifying for the next round, while the suspension of striker Vrastislav Lokvenc for the next game deepens a crisis over the availability of forwards.

First-choice strikers Jan Koller and Milan Baros have both been ruled out of the group stages with a hamstring and foot injury respectively and so additional absences are bad news.

A red card for Tomas Ujfalusi, one of the team's best defenders whose experience in Serie A would have been valuable against Italy, means he too will miss the Italy game.

Despite the problems, the team remained optimistic.

''If we play our game we still have a big chance to win against Italy and that's what we're going to try to do,'' said goalkeeper Petr Cech, whose succession of good saves prevented a much heavier defeat.

FLOWING MIDFIELD To beat Italy, though, they are going to have to demonstrate the kind of flowing midfield dominance that powered them to a 3-0 win over the United States in the first group game but that was hardly visible against Ghana.

''We failed to make our original intention happen, to go deep inside the opponents' area,'' coach Karel Brueckner said after the game.

In the next game it may fall to players like Tomas Rosicky and Pavel Nedved, both no strangers to goal scoring, to take more shots to compensate for what will effectively be fourth- and fifth-choice strikers.

Brueckner declined to say how he would alter the line-up but it is possible he may use a 4-4-2 formation, featuring Jiri Stajner and Marek Heinz as forwards, rather than playing a lone striker as he did in the first two games.

The second round of matches, which also saw the United States draw 1-1 with Italy, threw Group E wide open as any of the four teams could still advance to the knock-out stage.

The final Group E matches take place on June 22.

REUTERS AY RK1445