Serbia defender Branislav Ivanovic remains confident his side can bounce back from their setback against Ghana, but admits they face a real fight on their hands in their next Group D outing against Germany.

Serbia's hopes of starting their first World Cup as an independent nation with a victory were sunk in Pretoria last night as they fell to a 1-0 defeat to Ghana.

Asamoah Gyan's 84th-minute penalty settled the match in favour of the Black Stars after Serbia had been reduced to 10 men in the 74th minute when Aleksandar Lukovic picked up a second booking.

Radomir Antic's side now face an uphill battle to make it through to the last 16, but they cannot dwell on the loss as they are back in action again on Friday when they face Germany, a match that will go a long way to deciding Serbia's fate in South Africa.

Ivanovic conceded it was a major blow to lose their opening match but is optimistic his side can turn things around ahead of the clash in Port Elizabeth.

He told Press Association Sport: "It's a very difficult moment for everyone in our team.

"When you lose it's very difficult, we were playing our first game of the World Cup against a very strong team and we lost, but I think we have the power to recover after this game and prepare well for the next game."

Ivanovic also still has faith his side can secure one of the top two berths in Group D and a place in the knockout stages.

"We have to think like that. We are here out at the World Cup to show how anything is possible," the Chelsea defender said.

"We have to think about the next game and prepare for that."

Serbia could hardly have been handed a worse opponent against whom to keep their World cup hopes alive, though.

While Serbia were slumping to defeat to Ghana, Germany started their campaign a few hours later with a hugely impressive 4-0 thumping of Australia and Joachim Low's side will be brimming with confidence.

Speaking to reporters at Loftus Versfeld stadium prior to that convincing German victory in Durban, Ivanovic said of their next outing: "It's very difficult game for us because we lost the first game and now we play one of the favourites at the World Cup.

"Germany, of course, are a very strong team, a very hard team and we have to show that we can play against the big teams."