Different World for U.S.

The U.S. team was unable to sustain a reliable attack, showed no inventiveness, suffered repeated breakdowns and, except for a few fleeting moments, was outclassed by the hungry and composed Czechs.

With forward Milan Baros out with a foot injury, the Czechs played with one forward -- the towering Koller -- and moved superstar Pavel Nedved from the left wing into the middle alongside Rosicky. The pair gave a breathtaking performance and seemed to do whatever it wanted against the flailing Americans.

It started poorly for the U.S. team and never improved. In the fifth minute, after Keller's wayward attempt, Czech defender David Rozehnal's long ball from midfield reached right back Zdenek Grygera, who had overlapped and run free down the flank.

Midfielder Pablo Mastroeni, covering for left back Eddie Lewis, who had gotten caught upfield, didn't get there in time, allowing Grygera an abundance of time to consider his options. His decision was pretty simple -- find Koller.

With a slight nudge on defender Eddie Pope, Koller cleared space and rose just inside the six-yard box to power a header past Keller for his 43rd goal in 69 international appearances.

Koller didn't play in the second half after suffering what Coach Karel Bruckner described as a serious thigh injury. Afterward, however, Koller said: "When I felt the pain, I thought, 'Now everything's over for me.' But I'm glad that the scan said that nothing is torn" and that he might be able to train again late this week.

Pope injured his left hand later in the match and, according to wire reports, he said that he didn't know how bad it was and didn't know whether he could play with a cast, if one were required.

The Americans actually came close to tying the match in the 28th minute, but Reyna's long bid struck the left post. They didn't threaten goalkeeper Petr Cech again until the middle of the second half.

Rosicky's screamer doubled the advantage in the 36th minute. U.S. defender Oguchi Onyewu headed away Nedved's left-side cross, but Rosicky was there to settle it.

With no one to challenge him, the Arsenal-bound midfielder took a touch and then rocketed a shot that peeled away from the soaring Keller and crashed into the inner side-netting -- "an unbelievable goal," Reyna said.

"In the first half, I thought we played okay but we go down two goals and we're chasing the game," Arena said, "and to chase the game against a team of that quality is very difficult."

Reserve forward Eddie Johnson, brought on at halftime at the expense of defender Steve Cherundolo, provided a brief spark in the second half -- an effort that might have earned him a starting job against the Italians -- but the Czechs were largely unbothered by it.

Rosicky wasn't finished. After hitting the crossbar in the 68th minute, he put the finishing touches on his -- and his team's -- devastating performance by collecting Nedved's pass in stride, breaking away and lifting the ball over the helpless Keller.

"Not a whole lot went right," Cherundolo said. "I don't think it was as much the Czechs as it was us."