By The Associated Press

HAMBURG, Germany – Italy took care of its own business this time and knocked the Czech Republic out of the World Cup.

Substitute Marco Materazzi headed in a corner kick in the 26th minute to help Italy win Group E with a 2-0 victory over the Czechs on Thursday and likely avoid a second-round matchup with Brazil.

Materazzi scored his first goal in 29 appearances with the national team and Filippo Inzaghi added a score on a breakaway in the 87th minute for Italy, which won the group with seven points.

The Czechs, ranked second in the world, were eliminated from the tournament, finishing with only the three points they earned in its opening 3-0 win over the United States. Ghana, which beat the Czechs 2-0 last Saturday, finished second with six points.

The Czechs fell behind early when the 6-foot-5 Materazzi outleaped Jan Polak and Radoslav Kovac to head in a corner kick by Francesco Totti less than 10 minutes after replacing an injured Alessandro Nesta.

They were reduced to 10 men when midfielder Jan Polak picked up his second yellow card in first-half injury time and were unable to penetrate Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, who made several strong saves.

At the European Championship two years ago, Italy was eliminated despite winning its final group game after Denmark and Sweden drew 2-2.

Italy will face the second-place team from Group F on Monday in Kaiserslautern.

The Czechs pressed early on and Milan Baros, returning from a left foot injury, nearly connected on an excellent crossfield setup from Pavel Nedved in the ninth minute.

Australia 2, Croatia 2

STUTTGART, Germany – It took the Socceroos 32 years to get back to the World Cup. No wonder they wanted to prolong their stay.

Harry Kewell scored from close range to give Australia a 2-2 draw with Croatia and send the Aussies into the second round alongside defending champion Brazil from Group F.

Croatia took the lead in the second minute on a dipping free kick by Dario Srna. Craig Moore equalized for Australia with a penalty kick in the 39th minute after Stjepan Tomas handled the ball in the box.

Croatia went up again in the 79th minute on a goalkeeping blunder by Zeljko Kalac, who started for regular goalie Mark Schwarzer. Croatia captain Niko Kovac shot from about 20 yards and the ball rolled over Kalac’s hands.

But Kewell put home a short shot off a scramble in the area, and Australia was headed for a matchup with Italy in Kaiserslautern on Monday.

Instead of galvanizing the Croatians, Srna’s goal awoke the Australians and prompted a series of attacks. The pressure was rewarded with the penalty kick, and Moore sent the goalkeeper one way, the ball the other.

The match was billed as a clash of loyalties. Seven players of Croatian descent play for Australia, while three of Croatia’s grew up Down Under. The ancestral ties took a back seat on the field as the players often slammed into bone-crunching tackles.

Brazil 4, Japan 1

DORTMUND, Germany – Ronaldo found his goal-scoring touch to finally give Brazil the kind of convincing victory many expected to be routine in this World Cup.

Ronaldo scored twice to tie the all-time record with 14 career World Cup goals and Brazil clinched Group F with a 4-1 victory that eliminated Japan from the tournament Thursday night. With its second-round berth already secured, Brazil fielded five reserve players and got goals from two of them, Juninho and Gilberto. But it was Ronaldo who was the star in Brazil’s record 10th straight World Cup win.

Ronaldo faced questions about his fitness and form after struggling in the first two games but once again showed off the talent that has made him one of the game’s great players.

He tied the game at 1 with a header a minute into first-half injury time. He was set up by Real Madrid teammate Cicinho, who sent him the ball with a header across the area. Ronaldo scored his second goal in the 81st, with a right-footer from 20 yards after a set up by defender Juan.

The first goal moved him past Pele as Brazil’s all-time scoring leader in the competition and the second tied the record held by Gerd Mueller of Germany.

Brazil will play Ghana in the second round on Tuesday back in Dortmund. Japan is headed back home after finishing last in the group with one point, failing to repeat its second-round appearance from when it co-hosted the 2002 tournament. The Japanese, coached by former Brazilian all-star Zico, needed to defeat the five-time champions to have any chance to advance.

Zico changed both his starting strikers to try to boost the attack, and it seemed to work when the Japanese surprisingly took the lead despite being outplayed by Brazil.

Keiji Tamada, one of the new forwards, put Japan ahead in the 34th minute with a powerful left-footer from inside the area, completing a through pass by Alessandro Santos. Tamada received the ball unmarked, then quickly fired into the left-upper corner of the net.