"A number of players played poorly," he said. "Aside from giving up the early goal, second balls were a big part of the game and they won more than their fair share."

Arena's players were not in the mood to argue with their coach's verdict.

Keeper Kasey Keller, who had little chance to stop any of the goals, preferred to look past an evening his team mates would no doubt prefer to forget.

"We have to get better, that's all there is to it," Keller said. "This game is done. Now we have to focus on playing better."

Claudio Reyna, the skipper, said he thought the Czech Republic would be the likely winners of Group E.

"With all due respect, that's probably the best team in the group," he told reporters.

"Italy's another tough team and it'll be another tough game but we have to bounce back and put this game behind us and learn from it real quick."

The U.S. next face Italy on June 17 in Kaiserslautern and Ghana on June 22.