OOps

Its safe to say that football or soccer has been dealt a blow here in the US of A by the crap display of the US team against the Czech's. Apparently 2.3million houselholds watched the match but I wonder how many switched off before the end. If only the team had played the way they talked!!

Whilst I cannot say there was the same sort of fever around that you find in most other countries when their team is in the World Cup there has been more interest shown by people here and more people seem aware that something is happening in Germany. But given the USA's performance in 2002 and contrast that with this year (so far) the locals are already beginning to lose interest. Americans love winning, a draw does not exist for them as they fail to appreciate the subtelties of the beautiful game. So unless the team can pull its collective finger out and win the next two games and progress, the cause of football may be hurt for a couple of years.

Bruce Arena's comments after the match should also be examined. Yes a number of players were awful, Beasley was non-existant and I lost count of how many times he passed backwards, Donavon, was he playing, the defence was poor especially for the first goal. However Arena deserves criticicm for playing Beasley out of position and maybe for not doing his homework on the Czech's. All the focus was on Koller and Nedved, had he never heard of Rosicky!

Having watched the Italy Ghana match I have a feeling that the US will struggle against them both. Italy because of their tactical acumen and skill and Ghana because of their physical presence. One problem the US based players have is that MLS is effectively non-contact so the players have a hard time adjusting to the physical game and I am sure that the match against Ghana will be physical.

I hope the US can improve and at least get a result but I fear for them....

Anyway onwards and upwards.....