A flop...

So I caught the USA-Czech game live tonight and came away feeling Germany 2006 could be France 1998 all over again. I watched tiny Trinidad & Tobago defy the odds by playing their hearts out against Sweden to score a draw and earn a valuable point. I watched a desperate Australia throw caution to the wind and score three goals in the final 8 minutes to defeat Japan. The US has as much to prove as those two nations, but for all the talk about how experienced the USA was and how they’ve got a swagger about them, the Americans came out conservative, tentative and uninspired. The Czechs neutralized all of the US’ weapons and scored some fantastic goals; it just looked too easy. It’ll be interesting to see the media tear them apart as fast as they hyped them up over the past week. More importantly, it’ll be interesting to see how the Americans respond because it won’t be any easier with Italy in the next game.