Group ECzech Republic ... 3 United States ... 0That the Stars and Stripes will some day be one of the two anthems played ahead of a World Cup final seems somehow inevitable but while most Americans may like to regard old Europe as yesterday's man in many other ways, they might concede in football at least they still have rather a lot to learn.
There is, of course, no shame in the fact the US have tended to fare badly over the years against countries from this neck of the woods - they have now lost 10 of 14 competitive encounters with European opposition - but having made it to the last eight in Japan and South Korea before they succumbed to this year's hosts, they came here with reason to believe the tide was turning.
Already aware getting out of this group would be far from straightforward, however, the full scale of their task was underlined yesterday in Gelsenkirchen where they were outclassed by the Czechs, watched by Republic of Ireland manager Steve Staunton who would no doubt have been impressed by the team that shares the same qualifying group for the 2008 European Championships.
Two years ago at the European Championships in Portugal they were the tournament's most talented team and for his own contribution during the group game against Holland alone, Karel Bruckner might have been considered the best manager had it not been for a certain Otto Rehhagel. They were the only one of Greece's victims unlucky not to beat the eventual champions when the sides met in the semi-finals, and here, with nine of the same side that started that game in Oporto, they sent out the clear message this time they may just have the class to go two steps further.
The US came into the tournament buoyed by a string of strong results against good opposition in friendly games but, as the Irish team's recent past reminds us, those count for nothing when the real thing comes around.
Conceding a goal after less than five minutes to Jan Koller's close-range header scarcely helped their cause and supporters might argue if Claudio Reyna's low shot two minutes short of the half hour had gone in rather than coming back off the foot of the post it might have been a different game.
The Czechs, though, simply looked too good for the Americans who struggled with Koller's massive presence early on and were then left helpless by the quick movement and clever passing of Pavel Nedved, Tomas Rosicky and Jaroslav Plasil once Koller had been carted off before half-time with what the coach said afterwards was a "very serious thigh strain".
The loss of the 33-year-old would be a blow to Bruckner as he plots the campaign for the weeks ahead but perhaps not a fatal one if his other key players continued to perform like this. Nedved, in particular, was mesmerising at times, while Rosicky crowned a fine performance with two stunning goals.
Nedved was involved in the build up to both but the newly-signed Arsenal midfielder did the tough stuff.
His first was a beautiful long-range effort that soared into the top right corner from 25 years with none of trickery these new balls can sometimes perform. For the second he neatly stepped between three defenders and ran 40 metres with the ball at his feet and Eddie Lewis on his shoulder before lifting the ball above Kasey Keller.
That one might have completed a hat-trick had his looping shot in the 68th minute not come crashing off the crossbar but the midfielder's misfortune on that occasion never looked likely to be costly.
Up front, the Americans worked hard to create chances with Eddie Johnson managing their two best of the second half but there was little they could do given the lack of possession. Bruce Arena tried to breath new life into his struggling side at the break with two substitutions and a tactical rethink but it made no discernable difference to the balance of the contest.
For the Czechs, the lack of more onerous defensive obligations allowed Zdenek Grygera to push profitably forward down the right and his was the cross for the opening goal. The steady succession of chances they created later on included a header by Tomas Ujfalusi and a volley by Karel Poborsky neither one of which was far from making the margin four.
That was the scale of the defeat when the US met the then Czechoslovakia in their first game of their ill-fated Italia 90 campaign - the score was 5-1 - but the current coach denied yesterday things were nearly as bad as they were then. "I'm very disappointed with some of my players," he admitted. "We still had a chance at 1-0 but to be two behind and chasing the game against a team of that quality is very difficult. I really can't explain why these things happen but this was not like 1990. We did not look like that team."
SUBSTITUTIONS
Czech Republic: Lokvenc for Koller (45 mins), Polak for Poborsky (82 mins), Stajner for Rosicky (86 mins). Subs not used: Baros, Blazek, Heinz, Jarolim, Jiranek, Kinsky, Kovac, Mares, Sionko. Booked: Rozehnal, Lokvenc, Rosicky, Grygera.
United States: Johnson for Cherundolo (half-time), O'Brien for Mastroeni (half-time), Wolff for McBride (77 mins). Subs not used: Albright, Berhalter, Bocanegra, Ching, Conrad, Dempsey, Hahnemann, Howard, Olsen. Booked: Onyewu, Reyna.
Referee: C Amarilla (Paraguay)
