U.S. = Bad

I hate to say I told you so, but I'd called this since last summer's Gold Cup. The U.S. will disappoint in Europe. They benefited greatly from a neutral-site WC in 2002, and people got big heads.

As for the U.S.'s draw vs. Mexico's, FIFA has a draw for World Cup group seatings, and teams are grouped into 4 buckets of 8. One team from each bucket is put into each group. The U.S., and Costa Rica were in the same bucket, and the U.S's group is just how the draw played out. It doesn't matter that the U.S. finished ahead of Mexico in qualifying, just like it didn't matter that Costa Rica finished 1st in qualifying in 2002. Basically, the top 8 teams are put into the 1st bucket to be the heads of each group based on ranking and previous WC results, and U.S. didn't make that cut (Mexico did based on the last few World Cups and their ranking at time of draw) (Remember U.S. finished dead last in 1990 and 1998). After that, teams are put into buckets based on regions. Remaining teams in Europe and South America went into 2 buckets, and CONCACAF went into a bucket with Asia and Australia (I think this is how they did it but is was 8 months ago). Before the WC started, all teams listed 1st are "heads," all listed 2nd were in 1 bucket, all listed 3rd were in another bucket, and listed 4th were in the last. Then they were drawn at random. U.S. did get a tough draw, but I think it was karma at work. The U.S. shouldn't have talked so much smack about Mexico and CONCACAF in general during qualifying, or about how the rest of the world now feared playing them (laugh!). My question to Donovan is, "who sucks now?!" His career always was a disappointment in Germany, and this World Cup will be no different. Italy and Ghana are just as tough as Czech.

Czech played very well today. The U.S. looked really good until the 2nd goal; then they just looked disjointed. I honestly believe this team underestimated how difficult it is to play European teams in Europe. They were definitely overconfident. The gap in talent and quickness (in terms of touch on the ball) was evident, which is to be expected when your best player plays in MLS. It's a whole different world compared to the leagues in Europe, and Johnson, Donovan, and other young players would do well to make the move to Europe while they're young.

Although I'm pulling for all teams in CONCACAF, including the U.S., I'm much more realistic, and apparently a much better analyst than anybody on CNNSI, Fox Soccer Channel, and ESPN, that predicted the U.S. to win this game and advance to the second round. Some even claimed a quarterfinal or semifinal appearance, which is still possible, although VERY unlikely. I wonder if Fox Soccer Channel spent more time showing games outside the Premier League, then maybe they'd have a much better (and realistic) understanding of other national teams outside England and the U.S.