Different World for U.S.
Four Years After Magical Run, Team Is in Jeopardy Following Decisive Opening Loss: Czech Republic 3, United States 0

By Steven Goff
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 13, 2006

GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany, June 12 -- The U.S. national soccer team arrived at this World Cup poised to prove that its quarterfinal appearance four years ago was no illusion, that the game back home had made enormous strides and that American soccer should be discussed in the same breath as the sport's elite programs.

They believed they had prepared themselves perfectly for Monday's first-round opener against the Czech Republic and that, despite a humbler pedigree, they would find a way to start this year's tournament in grand style, just like in 2002 when they shocked Portugal.

Instead, everything went terribly wrong and, as a consequence, the Americans could be mathematically eliminated by this weekend.

They yielded an early goal to 6-foot-7 forward Jan Koller, they allowed a sensational goal by brilliant playmaker Tomas Rosicky before the half and, with the Group E match essentially decided, they watched Rosicky coolly finish a breakaway to cap the Czech Republic's 3-0 victory before 52,000 at Veltins Arena.

It was a final score that accurately reflected what transpired on this muggy day in the Ruhr Valley. Through 11 games in four days, the United States is the only team to have lost by three goals.

"It was embarrassing," forward Landon Donovan said, "and that shouldn't happen."

The U.S. team faces a daunting task to reach the second round: tying or beating group favorite Italy (1-0) on Saturday in Kaiserslautern and then defeating Ghana (0-1) on June 22 in Nuremberg. And a tie against Italy likely means the U.S. will need help on the last day of group play to advance. U.S. Coach Bruce Arena was critical of several players, saying Donovan "showed no aggressiveness" and "we got nothing out of [midfielder DaMarcus] Beasley." He thought goalkeeper Kasey Keller's aimless kick spurred the Czech Republic's first goal and, in general, "not enough players took the initiative."

While Donovan agreed with Arena's assessment of him, Beasley responded to the coach's review by saying, "I was back there defending the whole time, I don't know what [Arena] wants me to do."

Later, when discussing the U.S. team's move to a more aggressive 3-5-2 formation in the second half and Arena's comments, Beasley added: "I was always defending the whole time. That's how the game went. Next time I will leave the guy and play as a striker instead of a midfielder and then we'll see what happens."

Team captain Claudio Reyna, one of the few U.S. players to perform well, thought many of his teammates got lost in the moment.

"Going into a World Cup, we said it's something the guys will never see again, regardless of the preparation and what they've played in the past and their experiences," Reyna said. "It's completely different, the magnitude of this game, and you could see that guys were a little bit hesitant.

"At this level, you get punished, you get killed, and we did."

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."