Gelsenkirchen, Germany – The World Cup had its ugliest mismatch of the tournament here Monday night. In NCAA basketball tournament terms, picture Duke versus Maryland-Eastern Shore.
But this wasn’t some first-round basketball score that’s never more than a rumor outside our borders. Monday the whole world watched as the U.S. soccer program took a massive step back, a step reaching across the border into Italy circa 1990 when a bunch of college kids got drubbed in their first World Cup in 40 years.
The United States’ 3-0 whitewash at the hands of the Czech Republic wasn’t quite that bad. After all, the U.S. lost 5-1 to the Czechs 16 years ago. Monday’s difference was one fewer goal and about five times the 1,000 fans who trekked to Italy.
“Believe me, this wasn’t 1990,” U.S. coach Bruce Arena said.
Maybe not, but a program that reached the world elite in 2002 and is trying so desperately to show that it still belongs in 2006 revealed it didn’t belong on the same field Monday. The Czech Republic’s 6-foot-8 Jan Koller scored five minutes into the game, Tomas Rosicky scored two goals and the Czechs dominated every phase.
The one alleged U.S. edge was experience. Nine American players have combined for 13 World Cups. The Czechs combined for zip. Yet it was the Czechs, battle-tested in taking third at EURO 2004 and with players on top clubs from Chelsea to Juventus, who played as if the world watched them every day.
After Monday, the United States may not even watch the United States anymore. Arena sounded as if he wasn’t crazy about it, either. The U.S. squad meets Italy on Saturday.
“We had a lot of guys who were in their first games and were a little bit nervous,” said Claudia Reyna, the U.S. captain in his fourth World Cup. “Now there are no more excuses. We have to play better than that.”
Arena took the U.S. team to the 2002 quarterfinals using an aggressive attack and the power of positive reinforcement. He didn’t get the former and dropped the latter, naming names in a rare rip job.
“Landon (Donovan) showed no aggressiveness,” Arena said of probably his best player. “I thought Eddie Johnson and Josh Wolff were OK. We got nothing out of (midfielder DaMarcus) Beasley on the night. … Not enough players took the initiative.”
It got ugly quick, even before the game when 35,000 Czech fans, who poured over the German border into this former coal and steel town, drowned out the 5,000-plus Americans. Before the Czechs had even finished their second chorus of “Che-SHE! Che-SHE! (Czech! Czech!),” they had the lead.
Zdenek Grygera drove the ball down the right side unmarked. Oguchi Onyewu, the 6-foot-4 defender assigned to Koller, was 10 yards away. Grygera fired a bullet over Beasley, and veteran Eddie Pope was late catching up to Koller who headed in a point-blank rocket past goalkeeper Kasey Keller.
“You put yourself down a goal in the first five minutes against a quality team like the Czech Republic that defends quite well, we were behind the 8-ball from the start,” Arena said. “I was disappointed in our start. I was disappointed in the performance of some players for 90 minutes.”
Donovan rarely advanced the ball and Brian McBride, the top U.S. career scorer, never took a shot. Reyna hit the goalpost with a shot that would have tied it at the 28th minute, but defensively the Americans were helpless. Veteran Pavel Nedved, a star for Juventus, controlled the midfield and Rosicky was unstoppable.
In the 36th minute, Nedved sent a cross that Onyewu headed straight to a wide-open Rosicky 25 yards out. The new Arsenal signee sent a laser into the upper right corner for a 2-0 halftime lead. He later made it 3-0 on a rare breakaway as he easily won the one-on-one battle with Keller, scooting the ball past from inside the penalty box.
For what it’s worth, the Czechs are really good and at times warranted FIFA’s inflated No. 2 world ranking.
“It was not a miracle what happened today,” Czech coach Karel Bruckner said. “We have players of high quality. This is one of the best games by our national team.”
But Koller, the country’s all-time leading scorer, went down with a possible hamstring tear late in the first half and was carried off on a stretcher. He was seen limping in street clothes, and Bruckner hinted Koller may be out for the tournament.
The Czechs’ stay may be a long one. Unless the United States can find a lot of answers against Italy, it will have a short one.
Staff writer John Henderson can be reached at 303-820-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
