GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany -
Bruce Arena expected the United States to stand tall with the elite teams at the
World Cup. But the American coach was plenty disappointed with what he saw on
Monday.
The U.S. managed just three shots on goal in a 3-0 loss to the powerful Czech
Republic in a Group E game at Gelsenkirchen.
Tomas Rosicky scored a pair of goals for the Czechs (1-0), who are tied with
Italy (1-0) for first place in Group E with three points. The Italians posted a
2-0 victory over Ghana at Hanover on Monday.
The pressure is on the U.S. to repeat its stunning run to the World Cup
quarterfinals in 2002 under Arena. But the challenge to match that will be
difficult with the Americans (0-1) in a group with the Czech Republic, Italy and
Ghana.
Landon Donovan, DeMarcus Beasley and Claudio Reyna are the stars of the U.S.
team. Arena made it clear that he was unhappy with the performances of Donovan
and Beasley on Monday.
"Landon showed no aggressiveness and we got nothing out of Beasley tonight,"
Arena said. "Not enough players took the initiative for us."
The Czech Republic put the Americans on their heels quickly, scoring just
five minutes into the game on a header by 6-8 Jan Koller off a crossing pass.
The U.S. had a chance to tie the contest, but Reyna hit the right post in the
28th minute.
"I hit a post and when they got their two chances to score they did," Reyna
said. "Then nothing we did in the second half worked. It's certainly
disappointing."
"Our best player was Claudio and Bobby Convey at least had the courage to
attack," Arena said. "Everyone else's performances weren't good. That's why we
lost."
Rosicky unleashed a 35-yard strike into the right far corner past diving
goalkeeper Kasey Keller in the 35th minute, giving the Czechs a 2-0 advantage.
The Arsenal midfielder scored his second goal of the game in the 76th minute,
breaking in on Keller after taking a perfect pass from Juventus star midfielder
Pavel Nedved.
The U.S. will play its next game against Italy at Kaiserslautern on Saturday.
Andrea Pirlo scored late in the first half and substitute Vincenzo Iaquinta
added a goal late in the second half in Italy's win over Ghana.
Italy won the last of its three World Cup titles in 1982, but has slipped
recently, losing in the second round of the World Cup in 2002 and failing to get
out of the group stage in Euro 2004.
