Michael Essien admits Ghana must work on their finishing following their 2-0 defeat by Italy but the Chelsea midfielder is adamant the setback does not spell the end of their World Cup hopes.

Essien was arguably the best player on the pitch even though the Black Stars succumbed to goals from Azzurri midfielder Andrea Pirlo and substitute Vincenzo Iaquinta in Hannover.

And the former Lyon star insists there is still reason for optimism for their rest of their campaign.

"It's not going to be easy," he said. "But we will see what we can do.

"There are still two games remaining and we must forget about this defeat and concentrate on getting good results against the Czech Republic and United States.

"Against Italy we showed that we have physical strength and I don't think that we struggled psychologically with the pressure of playing for the first time in this tournament."

Essien came closest to beating Azzurri keeper Gianluigi Buffon with a fantastic second-half volley but his team-mates failed to follow his lead and squandered a host of presentable opportunities.

"We had our chances but we failed to find the target," said Essien.

"We need to sharpen our attack and we will focus on this in training.

"In football you can win or lose but at least you must try to give your best."