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World Cup Loss

Team USA looked flat and totally uninspired in their 3-0 loss to the Czech Republic today. Supposedly the 5th rated team in this years World Cup, team USA did not press the ball forward at all, everyone looked like they were standing around waiting for the ball to come to them, and as a result there were only 4 or 5 real shots on goal. Even though team captain Claudio Reyna had one shot on goal that missed by only inches, the play of Reyna was disappointing. He seemed unable to rally his mates into pressing the ball forward. Indeed, team USA spent more time playing the ball backwards than they did moving toward the goal. The only excitement for team USA came from Forward, Eddie Johnson, who tried a few times to press the ball and make a run, but his attempts came to nothing. All in all, it was a flat, dismal performance by the Americans.

America's next match is against Italy this coming Saturday. They will have to come out much faster and much more willing to go for the ball. Today's match showed an American team that seemed unwilling to play man-to-man. In the next match, the Americans will have to show that they are willing to go after the ball and contest each possession by their opponents. They will also need to press the ball forward and take some shots from beyond the box in order to draw the Italian defense out. The Czech defense was able to stop any attempt at a goal today by keeping their men behind the ball. The way to counter this next Saturday is to shoot the ball frequently and get the Italian defense to respect the shot and bring the goal keeper off his line.
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