US Embarrassed 3-0 by Czech Republic
 |
James Joyner | Monday, June 12, 2006 |
Despite coming into the tournament ranked number five in the world, mostly thanks to playing against relatively weak competition in the Americas, Team USA was trounced in their opener in the 2006 World Cup.
Jan Koller scored early, and Tomas Rosicky added two more goals Monday to lead the Czech Republic to a 3-0 win over the United States in Group E of the World Cup. Koller, who returned only last month from knee surgery, already had been fouled by Oguchi Onyewu and Eddie Pope in the first two minutes. He then headed a cross to put the ball past United States goalkeeper Kasey Keller for his 43rd goal in 69 international appearances, a Czech record.
Rosicky scored on a soaring 25-meter (yard) shot in the 36th minute, and the Americans never got back into the game. Rosicky hit the crossbar in the 68th and added a goal in the 76th minute, getting past the United States defense off a through pass from Pavel Nedved and beating Keller on the breakaway.
Koller injured his right leg battling Onyewu for a ball on the flank in the 43d minute, and was taken off on stretcher. He was taken to a hospital to be examined, the Czech team said.
It’s looking like another first round exit for the Red, White, and Blue. And they wonder why Americans don’t get excited about soccer.
UPDATE: Commenter Brandon Minich notes that the Czechs were ranked 2nd in the world, and thus should have beaten the 5th ranked USA team. A fair point; only Brazil is ranked higher.
Of course, this points to another reason why the World Cup is unlikely to cultivate much of an American fan base: Idiotic bracketing. There are 32 teams in 8 brackets. How on earth can the 2nd and 5th teams be in the same bracket, virtually guaranteeing one will be eliminated in the preliminary rounds?! Wouldn’t we expect teams 1-8 to be in separate brackets, with teams 9-16, 17-24, and 25-32 distributed accordingly to give the top seeds the best shot at advancing?
- Ghana beats Czechs 2-0 in World Cup
- Finland Eliminates Americans in Hockey
- U.S. Team Waits to Learn Fate in WBC
- The United States wins the Solheim Cup
- USA Serious Contenders for 2006 World Cup
- Deflated- Beachball deflection wins soccer game
- Banging my head against the wall- Florida blows 3-1 lead and loses to Edmonton
- The incredible Tomas Vokoun
- Bruce Arena Out as U.S. Soccer Coach (Video)
- Czech player says he was asked to lose tennis match
- NY Knick Nate Robinson not benched for shooting at the wrong basket
- Arizona State Baseball Coach Pat Murphy resigns
- Clipping their wings- Florida Panthers beat Detroit 2-1
- LA Clipper announcers suspended for one game
- Backup power- Miami Dolphins beat Carolina Panthers 24-17
- Steve Elling of CBS Sports is jealous
- Detroit Lions put two defensive backs on Injured Reserve
- The Dirty Dozen- Milwaukee Bucks beat New Jersey 99-85
- Outdueled- Florida Panthers beat Buffalo 6-2
- Collision Course: LPGA and Champions Tour in Oregon on Same Week
Well, to technically be fair, the Czech Republic was ranked #2 or #3 in the world . . . so we lost a game we should have . . .
But with three games in round 1, every game counts. The US needed to take this one to have a shot at an easier advancement. Only one other team in recent history advanced after losing their first game, so it doesn’t look good.
“Despite coming into the tournament ranked number five in the world, mostly thanks to playing against relatively weak competition in the Americas,”
“Of course, this points to another reason why the World Cup is unlikely to cultivate much of an American fan base: Idiotic bracketing”
You allready answered your own argument 
Comments are Closed
