Australian head coach Guus Hiddink of the Netherlands (R) celebrates the victory over Japan after the first round match of the World Cup 2006 Group F against Australia at the Fritz-Walter-Stadion in Kaiserslautern, Germany yesterday. -Xinhua

Australia staged a great comeback to score three late goals to beat Japan 3-1 in their opening first World Cup Group F tie on Monday while the Czech Republic and Italy easily won their openers.

In Kaiserslautern, Tim Cahill who came on in the second half turned around the table with two superb goals.

The Everton player scored Australia's first ever goal in the World Cup finals to level the scoreline in the 84th minute when he took advantage of a goalmouth scramble to shoot home.

In the 89th minute, he made it 2-1 as his shot from the edge of the box hit Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi's right-hand post and flew into the far corner.

Another second half substitute John Aloisi wrapped up the win, charging through on goal to bury the ball in the left-hand corner.

In Gelsenkirchen, thanks to a double-effort from Tomas Rosicky,the Czechs scored a comfortable 3-0 win over their Group E rivals the United States.

"We're really satisfied with the victory and how we played," said the midfielder, who has just signed for Arsenal from Borussia Dortmund.

He also said the match was not as easy as the result showed: " They were tough opponents and I am not sure that the score can indicate how tough they were."

Rosicky, who has been a constant thorn for the U.S. defence, scored his first on the 36th minute with a 20-meter drive and seeing the ball swerved into the top corner, giving Kasey Keller no chance.

After the interval, he again coolly finished into the top corner with the outside of his right boot at the 76th minute after Pavel Nedved of Juventus made his way into the box and put Rosicky through on goal.

Jan Koller, Rosicky's teammate for both club and the national side, opened the scoring in just 5 minutes for the Czechs, who had made eight appearances in the World Cup Finals as the Czechoslovakia played a successful qualifying campaign to return to the tournament after a 16-year absence.

The towering striker wasted no time after receiving a nice cross from Zdenek Grygera from the right wing and sent in a bulletheader to earn an earlier upper hand at 5.

His team, however, suffered a major blow at the break as Koller rolled over in the 42nd minute with a challenge from Oguchi Onyewu,who had been booked in 4 minutes for a late challenge on Pavel Nedved, and was carried off on a stretcher while the challenge was not ruled as a foul.

Vratislav Lokvenc replaced the 33-year-old in the following minutes.

Czech coach Karel Bruckner now has to worry about the injury concerns of his team as Koller went off Monday's opener with a hamstring tear, Nedved was also hurt which made the match halt for several minutes, and Milan Baros had been sidelined even before the match kicked off by a foot injury.

In Hannover, substitute forward Vincenzo Iaquinta's late strikesealed a 2-0 win for Italy in their opening match against World Cup Group E rivals Ghana.

The Udinese top striker beat a Ghana defender and the goalkeeper in a solo run, steering the ball right into the open goal in the 83rd minute.

AC Milan midfielder Andrea Pirlo's 39th minute powerful volley,a right-footed shot from outside the box, had given Italy a 1-0 half-time advantage.

Ghana coach Ratomir Dujkovic said that their opponents were the superior team.

"They were very good," Dujkovic said. "All the stories (on match-fixing) in Italy at the moment have not affected them. They deserved to win.

Luca Toni, the winner of last season's Italian first division Golden Boot after scoring 31 goals for Fiorentina, led the line well for them and could potentially be a star of the tournament.

The Italians were looking the more incisive team against their African rivals, who also had their moments.

Italy coach Marcello Lippi paid tribute to Ghana after the match.

"Our opponents showed themselves to be as strong as we thought they would be," said Lippi .

"In certain aspects they were better than us. But I think overall we deserved to win.

Ghana were the better side after the interval as they pushed forward in search of an equaliser.

In the 72nd minute, Ghana forward Asamoah Gyan tried a flying slide shot at the goalmouth but his right foot failed to touch theball, just an inch wide.

With 12 minutes remaining, Ghana players demanded a penalty after Asamoah Gyan was brought down inside Italy's area by De Rossi but referee Carlos Simon who was close to the action said toplay on.

Shortly after, Michael Essien's long distance effort went off-target.

The Italians, marshaled by captain Fabio Cannavaro in central defence, held firm and threatened on the counter-attack.

Ghana created many scoring chances in the game but few of their shots were on goal.

With the win, three-time world champions Italy collected the same points in the group E with the Czech Republic who earlier routed the United States 3-0.