World Cup: Americans fall in dismal opener

GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany — All the talk about how far the U.S. soccer team has progressed seemed like so much chatter on Monday.

Sixteen years after suffering an embarrassing loss to Czechoslovakia in the 1990 World Cup, the United States absorbed another humbling defeat. This time the second-ranked Czech Republic shocked the Americans with a fifth-minute goal by forward Jan Koller and cruised to a 3-0, Group E World Cup victory before 52,000 fans at AufSchalke Arena.

Midfielders Tomas Rosicky and Pavel Nedved danced around and inside the U.S. defense, and Rosicky finished with two goals, including a brilliant 35-yard strike that gave the Czechs a commanding 2-0 lead in the 36th minute.

"We lost to the second-ranked team in the world," said Lacey's Kasey Keller, the U.S. goalkeeper. "It's not like we rolled over and got beat by some team we definitely should have beat. We're disappointed with the way we lost."

The loss left the U.S. on the brink of elimination after only one game.

If it is defeated by Italy on Saturday, the U.S. will almost certainly be out of the 32-nation tournament. The scary thing for coach Bruce Arena and his team is that Italy has players every bit as good as the Czechs, perhaps even better.

The U.S. never could recover after Czech right back Zdenek Grygera found plenty of open space on the right wing after a goal kick by Keller did not find its target, midfielder Bobby Convey. Grygera ran to the right touchline and made a perfect cross to the 6-foot-7 Koller, who gave a nudge to defender Eddie Pope and powered home a header from inside the 6-yard box.

"It wasn't like I rolled the ball out in front of the goal and let 'em just volley it in," Keller said. "In hindsight, you can always do something different."

The U.S. vainly tried to recover. But after a 28-yard shot by midfielder Claudio Reyna bounced off the inside of the post and out in the 28th minute, the Czechs extended their advantage.

Rosicky pounced after defender Oguchi Onyewu's headed clearance dropped to the Czech player outside the penalty area. Rosicky sent a swerving shot into the upper right corner of the net, over the outstretched arm of Keller.

Arena made two tactical substitutions at the start of the second half, replacing midfielder Pablo Mastroeni and defender Steve Cherundolo with forward Eddie Johnson and midfielder John O'Brien.

The Americans' switch from a 4-4-2 formation to a 3-5-2 gave them a better chance to attack and hold the ball, yet they failed to put a shot on goal in the second half.

Rosicky blasted another long shot off the crossbar in the 68th minute, but he punctuated the Czechs' lopsided victory with his second goal, in the 76th minute.

In a rare display of anger at certain players, Arena pointed to their individual shortcomings after the game.

"We got nothing out of [DaMarcus] Beasley on the night," he said, adding that Landon Donovan "showed no aggressiveness" and that "not enough players showed initiative."

As if things weren't bad enough, Pope may have broken his left hand when challenging Nedved in the second half. He said after the match that he didn't know how bad it was and didn't know whether he could play with a cast, if one was required.

The Los Angeles Times and Dallas Morning News contributed to this report.