On paper, there's no comparison between these two teams. Pavel Nedved
has won a World Player of the Year award, and the Czechs really should
have been more of a force in the past few years, but got the draw of
death in 2000, and an unbelievable qualifying loss to Belgium in 2002.
However, my rampant American optimism doesn't allow me to acknowledge
these sorts of facts. I will also laugh my ass off uncontrollably
should Brazil come in 2nd in their group, and meet the winner of this
group... "Hey, you won... here's your prize!"
The Czechs have gone up a goal early, when Lewis left too much space
behind him on the left, and the Czechs had hours to set up a cross to
Jan Koller in the 5th minute. Koller is an enormous man, standing 6'8"
and totally dwarfing Oguchi Onyewu and Eddie Pope. Basically he looks
like he should have metal teeth and be terrorizing Roger Moore. He fits
right in with Nedved though, who looks like the guy from the TV version
of Beauty and the Beast. (You know, the Beast?) I can't despise Koller
too much, since he was a starter for Anderlecht the last time they went
deep in Europe, or Rosicky because he plays for Arsenal now, but I can
be pissed off at the rest of the Czechs for eliminating Norway in the
play-offs. (Especially Peter Cech, the Czech from Chelsea.)
I don't mind losing a tough game (although I maintain we'll be coming
back to win 5-1) but one thing that is annoying me, is how easily the
Czechs go down, and the lack of calls going the other way (which may
improve). Don't get me wrong, the early yellow card on Onyewu was
justified, it was a late tackle that took out Nedved's legs and there's
no place for that, but holding his kidney and wailing until the card
came out (he got up pretty quickly then) was pretty tiresome. He'll
regret that when he loses 5-1 (hope springs eternal). The fact that of
the 11 points the US has won in the World Cup, the only one where we
came from behind was when Waldo scored to get us a 1-1 draw against
Switzerland in 1994? Also irrelevant. And a yellow card to Rozehnal
for tripping Landon Donovan, so I should probably quit whining about the
official. (If we lose I'll need to save that for the second stage of
grief: Anger. God only knows what I'll do when it comes to Bargaining.)
Damarcus Beasley is not looking to sharp, starting on the right side of
midfield, and 25 minutes in, Brian McBride and Bobby Convey have yet to
do anything. I think our defense is alright, just overmatched, but it's
like nobody in the midfield or up front knows where they're supposed to
be, besides Captain America who's working overtime. Okay, Convey just
tried the one-on-one through a guy twice his size maneuver, so I guess
he is on the field. For those of you--
GARRHH!
Reyna with a nice shot, settles it outside the box as the defense
closes, shoots in the last second he has space, Peter Cech diving too
late, off the left post. Inches from being in. If you're wondering why
I simultaneously watch and blog, I'd have to smoke or eat otherwise to
have something to do with my hands. (No alternative suggestions of what
I could do with my hands, please.) And I really did shout like I'd been
stabbed when Reyna's shot went off the post. Okay, like I was saying,
here's our line-up (left to right):
Kasey Keller
Eddie Lewis
Oguchi Onyewu
Eddie Pope
Steve Cherundolo
Bobby Convey
Pablo Mastroeni
Claudio Reyna (aka Captain America)
Damarcus Beasley (aka RunDMB)
Landon Donovan
Brian McBride
A whole lot of offside calls on the Czechs, who definitely have some
fast motherfuckers... nice to see a US back line with the balls to take
a high line. Completely undaunted in my positive outlook. Undaunted.
No plans to leap to my death if we lose all three games. And as I say
that, Tomas Rosicky rips one into the opposite corner from 35 yards
out. God that was a nice shot. (He must die.) If the US gets out of
this group goal differential will be part of it, so stealing one back
could still be huge. Personally, now I'm thinking maybe we only score
four goals in our comeback win. (Undaunted.)
Oh man, Koller is being stretchered off with a hamstring injury in the
42nd minute. Big loss for the Czechs, and I hate to see this be part of
the inevitable US comeback. He's replaced by Vratislav Lokvenc. I hope
he's alright, mostly out of empathy for a fellow human being, and as
somebody who loves seeing the beautiful game at its highest level, but
also because I want him out there scoring goals and taking points off of
the Italians and Ghanaians.
Maybe in the second half we can stop directing all throw-ins and crosses
directly at where Peter Cech is standing.
Czech Republic 2-0 United States (HT)
Koller ('5)
Rosicky ('36)
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