The best men’s soccer team this country has ever had turned in likely the biggest soccer disappointment this nation has ever suffered.
They arrived at the World Cup buoyed by 2002’s stunning quarterfinal run, emboldened by their belief they had become legitimate contenders. But yesterday they had that swagger smacked into a stagger, a 3-0 opening loss to the Czech Republic so vile not because they got beat up but because they never showed up.
“I don’t think we ever positioned ourselves to win this game. I’m very disappointed by the performance of our players,” said Brooklyn-born coach Bruce Arena, whose teams were renowned for fighting for 90 minutes – until yesterday.
The main culprits were the young starters, who did a lot more running with their mouths before the yesterday’s embarrassment than with their legs during it.
For weeks, Arena and his veteran players – such as captain Claudio Reyna – insisted advancing out of grueling Group E would be tough and a major accomplishment.
Turns out they were right; it’s a shame their younger teammates didn’t listen.
The youngsters who had reached the semis at the 1999 U-17 World Championships – Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley, Bobby Convey and Oguchi Onyewu – had been brash leading up to this Cup. All four started, and all struggled.
“Landon showed no aggressiveness. We got nothing out of Beasley on the night,” Arena said. “Not enough players took the initiative. We didn’t get too many good performances. A number of players played poorly.” Granted, the worrisome left side (converted winger Eddie Lewis and inexperienced Convey) left Zdenek Grygera open for an uncontested cross to Jan Koller on the first goal. And sure, Pavel Nedved and Tomas Rosicky ran rampant through the U.S.
midfield.
But this wasn’t about formations, as Arena’s halftime switch from a 4-4-2 to a 3-5-2 didn’t help. This was more about attitude than ability, the Czechs’ No. 2 world-ranking notwithstanding.
They made the fifth-ranked team on the planet look like the fourthbest team in Group E.
“We have a lot of guys who had their first game in a World Cup, and I think they were a little nervous. There are no more excuses: We have to play better than that,” said Reyna. “We have a lot of guys who showed … inexperience. You can’t be hesitant; you have to be aggressive from the first minute, and … we were hesitant.” Donovan was timid, Beasley unwilling to attack one-on-one, Convey invisible and Onyewu gave up an early yellow and made a terrible clearance that set up Rosicky’s first goal.
When the U.S. lost its opener 5-1 to Czechoslovakia in 1990, it was easily excused as overmatched collegians in the country’s first World Cup in 40 years. For a squad that had a dozen players with World Cup experience – second-most in this tourney – yesterday was far worse.
The U.S. has never advanced after losing its opener, and in the last two World Cups, the only team that did was Turkey in 2002. Now a team that’s 0-8 in World Cup play on European soil – outscored 24-4 – may have to beat three-time champ Italy Saturday and then athletic Ghana to advance.
Their task may have just gone from imposing to impossible.