News-Record.com

.... has painstakingly reenacted the Michael Barrett - A.J. Pierzynski brawl. I don't know whether this is impressive or just plain sad. But it is pretty darned funny. And it makes me wax nostalgic for the days when I could run the basepaths with a crossbow in hand. But I digress ...

small FCC warning. The blogger here, Bat Girl, is pretty clearly a Cubs fan. I can tell by the not so nice name she has for the Sox and their field. Nothing horrible, just a female dog synonym.

... and nobody was there to see it on the Outdoor Life Network, then did the NHL playoffs ever really happen?

As I eagerly await tonight's Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals between the Buffalo Sabres and Carolina Hurricanes -- OK, not nearly as much as I would if the Capitals were playing -- I wonder how many others in the Triad will be tuning in.

There was at least some mild interest in Greensboro four years ago when the Canes made the Stanley Cup finals, but it was mostly a bandwagon-jumping phenomenon mostly, I think, which was basically reflected in this paper's coverage of the series.

But, as it stands, few in the area, and few in the U.S., seem to give a hockey mullet about the NHL's first playoffs back from a year-long lockout. According to last week's Triad TV ratings, no hockey games on OLN cracked the top-10 most-watched sporting events on cable TV. You had eight NBA games, a Busch race and a Yanks-Sox game. The Mavs-Spurs on May 22 had a 5.7 rating; hockey apparently isn't even cracking the 1.0 barrier.

From what I heard on the Jim Rome Show today, this is the trend nationally. Even Monday-night pro wrestling is drawing more viewers. So can hockey make it in non-traditional U.S. markets? Is OLN just too hard to find on most TV's? Or are these matchups -- Buffalo-Carolina/Edmonton-Anaheim -- just too lame to draw in moderate, borderline hockey fans.

Too bad. I suspect it will be seriously high drama at the RBC Center tonight, particularly if we have overtime. And the Finals should be very compelling. Folks in Canada certainly will be enthralled to see the Great One's old team trying to relive past glory.

Just don't miss it next year when the dynamic Alex Ovechkin leads the Caps to the Cup. OK, that's a pipedream. Sorry, it's all I can muster right now.

Junior left-hander Andrew Miller is widely expected to be the No. 1 overall pick of the Kansas City Royals in next week's baseball draft. (Cy Young himself couldn't save the woeful Royals, but that's a blog for another day.) Oddly enough, Miller will not be pitching the all-important first game of this weekend's NCAA Regional at Boshamer Stadium when the Heels face Maine today at 6 p.m.

Coach Mike Fox hasn't lost his mind. He offered pretty solid reasons for opening against the Black Bears with soft-tossing righty Robert Woodard and coming back with Miller against either Winthrop or UNC Wilmington on Saturday in the Tar Heels' first home regional since 1983.

For instance, Woodard has been a No. 1 starter before ('05), Maine has a lot of right-handed bats and Woodard is better on short rest than either Miller or Daniel Bard, another high first-round talent, meaning he could throw again Sunday or Monday if needed.

Then, there's this:

We just made the call and felt like Robert's going to get deep into the game. Not that Andrew won't, but the history with Robert is he throws so many strikes, he's going to get us into the sixth or seventh inning more than likely. The last thing you want to do is tax your bullpen the first game of regionals, so we'd rather not do that.

Let's see how it pans out. If they lose Game 1, the Heels would likely need to win four games in 48 hours to advance to the Super Regional.

I'll also be interested to see whether UNC's surprising two-and-out at last weekend's ACC Tournament in Jacksonville is a sign of trouble or maybe a blessing in disguise. We'll see how fresh and focused the Heels are in comparison to N.C. State, which made a strong tournament run and now might possibly have some tired arms when it plays a brutally tough regional in Austin, Texas.

... any time soon. That's CTK as is in Christ the King. As in, one of the top talent-producing schools in New York City. As in the school where former State signee Larry Davis played.

Last week the Fayetteville Observer-Times caught up with Davis' high school coach, Bob Oliva. You can find the article here, or you can just check out this quote.

Oliva's speaking here when asked to speculate on why Davis decided he'd rather go to Seton Hall than N.C. State.

--

“Well, they (N.C. State) took two months to name a coach, and then, when they did, they named a guy who can’t coach.

“That is about the stupidest thing I ever heard of.”

---

Ummm.... wow. Maybe Oliva just got up on the wrong side of the bed. Maybe he was miffed about being bothered on Memorial Day. Or maybe State should just look elsewhere in the future for New York City talent.

As the words "We stand on guard for thee" trailed off in the pregame rendition of "O Canada," and someone in the RBC Center crowd hoisted his sign -- reading "REDNECK HOCKEY" -- it was clear what we have in these Stanley Cup Finals is a clash of cultures, nation vs. nation. That point was hammered home when, after the Hurricanes took three penalties in less than two minutes late in the first period, a Canes fan said to me: "They should repeal NAFTA."

The Oilers lead 1-0 on Fernando Pisani's rebound goal. For those who can pick up the CBC on their dishes, hope you enjoyed Don Cherry's bright-colored Hawaiian blazer during the intermission ... and of course his typically irreverent rants.

For those who like to scan the International press on the Internet in the morning, there were quite a few non-U.S. publications credentialed for these Finals. In addition to two Edmonton papers and media from Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and other points north, there was my favorite journal -- Blick, from Switzerland. And the Gothenburg Post, the Sport Express Daily (Russia), Galaxie Sport (Czech), Spits Newspaper (Netherlands, I believe), Turun Sonomat (Finland), Asahi Shimbun (Japan), Veikkaaja, TV4 Sweden and ... well, you get the picture.

Oh, and I waited in line for my media pass behind none other than former Soviet goalie Vladislav Tretiak, arguably the greatest goaltender in hockey history.

It's Glasnost in the Carolinas.

Steve Smith was an outstanding defenseman for the Oilers for several years, but it's hard for folks in Edmonton to shake the memory of his "own goal" in a Game 7 against rival Calgary in 1986. The Flames went on to win the Stanley Cup.

Perhaps Jason Smith's entanglement with backup goalie Ty Conklin behind the net, leading to Rod Brind'Amour's game-winning goal with 31 seconds left Monday night, will propel the Hurricanes to their first Cup. Starting goalie Dwayne Roloson is lost for the series, according to Oilers coach Craig Mactavish, and given how little his backups have played in the postseason, this series very well could be over -- even after just one game.

The Canes had already rallied from a 3-0 deficit, having even taken the lead on Justin Williams' short-handed goal in the third period. The finish -- and loss of Roloson -- will be near-impossible to overcome against the offensively talented Canes. No, sir, these aren't your '02 Canes, who lost to Detroit in five.

I've surprised a few of my friends in recent days by telling them that Ced Simmons is a lock to be a first-round pick in the NBA Draft. They were ACC hoops fans and apparently thought that the trouble Ced had against guys like Wake's Eric Williams might give NBA scouts some doubts.

But if they were NBA draftniks, they'd know that things like wingspan, baseline to baseline speed, leaping ability and the vague but all-important "upside" are more critical when David Stern steps to the mike. And Ced Simmons has those in spades. Which is why I'm not that surprised to find more and more mock drafts putting the former State big man in the lottery.

A lot of them have Ced going No. 13 to Philadelphia, where GM Billy King - the former Duke defensive whiz - thinks Ced could be the second coming of Theo Ratliff.

One of the advantages of having a newborn child around the house - aside from the opportunity to accessorize my shirts with spit-up patches - is that it gets me out of bed early in the morning to watch sports in Europe as they're happening live. Two years ago when my daughter was born, it was the Olympic Games in Athens. She and I will also have that shared memory of the kayak race on CNBC at 4 a.m. This time around, my son and I have been taking in a lot of the French Open.

That means a lot Rafael Nadal.

I'm not personally crazy about Nadal. His muscle shirt and capris get-up has got to go. And I've never loved players that thrive off defensive tennis. Still, his record of 58 straight wins on clay - and counting - a remarkable achievement that deserves to be praised.

Too bad the old record holder, Guillermo Vilas, doesn't feel the same way.

You'd think that Vilas, who now looks disturbingly like Gerard Depardieu, would appreciate Nadal's mark because it gives him a chance to remind everyone how great he was back in the 70's. Well, he's definitely enjoying the reminding part. The appreciating part? Not so much.

Check out this blog, which quotes extensively from a Reuters article I can't seem to find.

It's unbelievable to me that Vilas is trying to claim that Nadal padded his record, and that somehow it means less because it was accumulated over two years. This from a guy who reached his number of consecutive clay court victories by winning tournaments in such tennis hotbeds as Tehran and Bogota.

As for the tournament itself, it has been a woeful display for the Americans on the red clay. But I think these things are cyclical. I've heard there's some talent coming through the pipeline that will hopefully take the torch from Agassi/Sampras/Courier after it's been fumbled by Andy Roddick.

For those of who who are already getting World Cup fever - who know who you are - here's this critical piece of information.

Raica Oliveira, the girlfriend of Brazilian star Ronaldo, recently told the press she will not - repeat, not - pose in the nude.

Now that this critical issue has been settled, you may all resume your daily lives.

By the way, expect more World Cup blog items in the very near future. Don't expect all of them to continue info on models, though.

No, we're not going there live. But we did chuckle quite a bit when OLN flashed to a shot of Edmonton's Rexall Center yesterday.

You've seen this sort of image before - in 2004 Fox kept giving us live shots of a Jillian's in Boston, with insane Red Sox fans mugging for the camera. It makes sense when the team that the fans have gathered to cheer is actually winning.

In this case, the Oilers fans who were watching the game on the big screen at the arena were watching their team - which already trailed 1-0 in the series - fall behind 2-0. Needless to say, OLN gave us a shot of a bunch of people with ticked off expressions on their faces, who kept shooting glares at the camera that was intruding on their grief. I dubbed it the "Devastation Cam." It was a
moment high on the Unintentional Comedy scale.

If you were rooting for the Canes, that is.

Jim Young beat me to it Wednesday with his post on Ronaldo's girlfriend deciding not to pose nude for a magazine, but this is my Eric Cantona/Nike/Joga Bonito moment as I hijack this blog to talk about "the beautiful game:" Soccer.

The World Cup starts Friday and, while the first-day matchups are not exactly marquee games (Germany-Costa Rica at noon and Poland-Ecuador at 3 p.m., both on ESPN2), it's still a great day to be a futbol/soccer fan. I can remember the first time I watched a World Cup game. It was 1978, and Tunisia stunned Mexico 3-1 -- the first time an African nation had won a game in the tournament. The picture was fuzzy and the broadcast was in Spanish (Univision at my soccer buddy Mike Heredia's house in Dover, N.J.), but I was hooked.

I didn't get to see a World Cup game in person until 1994, when I watched Ireland hand Italy its only loss until the final, beating the Azzuri 1-0 at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. What an atmosphere! For about four hours that day, I felt as if I'd been transported to the San Siro, Bernabeu, Wembley or one of the sport's other European cathedrals. The weather was miserably hot and humid in a "swamps of Jersey" kind of way, with apologies to Bruce. But even my wife, who is not a soccer nut, didn't mind.

A lot has changed since 1978. Every game is on live TV here (WXLV-45, ESPN, ESPN2, Univision and Telefutura) and the tournament is being promoted by U2 in commercials. But it's still the beautiful game and, while I've never been able to "play beautiful," as Cantona implores, I can at least "watch beautiful" and try to "blog beautiful." Between now and the final July 9, Jim Young and I will bring you live updates from some of the games and share our thoughts on the world's largest sporting event.

Until kickoff at noon Friday, I return you to Jeff Carlton's Stanley Cup finals updates and regularly scheduled blogging.

As well as the urine bags, the batteries, the rocks and maybe even a little bit of acid for good measure.

ESPN.com's Wayne Drehs follows up on a point made quite well by a recent Gatorade ad: when it comes to playing in hostile environments, no other team in the world has it as bad as the U.S. soccer team. It's a compelling article.

Ironically, all that anti-Americanism that gets spewed at the team probably has the opposite effect. It tends to build the team's chemistry by fostering an us-against-the world mentality that is very real. And it toughens them up. Think any "Yankee go home!" chants in Germany are really going to faze these guys? I doubt it.

Now, stopping the Czech forwards? That might be considerably tougher.
But the U.S. did get this bit of news which could be potentially huge. If Pavel Nedved isn't good to go on Monday, then the U.S.'s chances suddenly get a whole lot better.

Umm, not so much. No real big preview show on ESPN2, unless you count Woody Paige and that Eric whatever-his-name-is talking about it on Cold Pizza. Eric went with the chalk, picking Brazil. Woody went with Trinidad and Tobago, opting for the ridiculous rather than actually putting his neck on the line with a predicition. Gee guys, thanks for the insight.

Earlier in the show though, and on ESPN this morning as well, former U.S. women's national team member Julie Foudy was much better. I hated the fact that ESPN made her compare six World Cup players to NBA counterparts. Geez, can't these people stop promoting the NBA for one moment? Plus, I think it's the worst sort of copout in sports commentary when you have to rely on another sport to explain the sport you're broadcasting. Like when Dick Enberg inevitably refers to a big tennis match as "two heavyweight fighters slugging it out." Ugggh..

Anyway, back to Foudy. She did her best to play the silly little NBA-World Cup game. Then she went with a bold, gutsy pick to win it all ...

The Netherlands.

Yes, Clockwork Orange, the guys that brought you Total Football and the Cruyf turn. The Dutch have always had tons of talent and yet nothing to show for it in the World Cup. Zero titles. They've also always had chemistry issues stemming from racial tension between the team's white and black players.

But, as I said, they're loaded with talent. It's a bold, yet informed, pick.

My only question is whether the Dutch can get out of Group C - the one that Foudy correctly noted is the REAL Group of Death, not the U.S. Group E. Group C features the Dutch, Argentina, Ivory Coast and Serbia and Montenegro. Yikes.

Okay, only about five or six minutes to the start. Meanwhile on Cold Pizza, two sumo wrestlers are pushing around the host.

Sigggh...

C'mon, this event's being held in the mecca of beer, Germany. But the official beer of the World Cup is ... Budweiser?

That's just wrong.

We're 1 minute into the Germany-Costa Rica game. The U2 "City of Blinding Lights" opening was impressive, but I still favor the music on my old FIFA World Cup computer game - Song No. 2 by Blur. Oh, and another version I had started off with Tub Thumper by Chubba Wumba.

I'll take one-hit wonders for 500, Alex.

Just as I was typing this, Germany's Philip Lahm just cut in from the left wing, beat two Costa Rican defenders and launched a shot that banked in off the far post.

1-0, Germany. Thanks for coming Costa Ricka.

I was all set for a bunch of cracks about HD being useless in this game because Costa Rica would never see the German half of the field. I was about to ask whether Jens Lehman was really in goal for Germany becuase we never got to see him.

Then everything just changed

A really ragged offsides trap by Germany allowed Paulo Wanchope to slip in all alone. He easily beat Lehman low and to the left and suddenly it's 1-1.

Let's hear it for North American soccer!!!

17 minutes into the game, and already a third goal.

Germany's Bastian Schweinsteiger (don't you love these German names?) got free in the box and sent a beautiful pass to the far post, where striker Miroslav Klose redirected it into the goal.

2-1 Germany. What an unbelievable start. I don't think Klose did his trademark foreward flip after the goal, but other than that, no complaints here.

The Costa Rican goalkeeper is getting peppered right now. Already, just 24 minutes into the game, he's had to face eight shots. A close offsides call just prevented Germany from getting a ninth.

The Costa Rican defense is ... what's the word?

Porous. Yes, that's it. Very, very porous.

The first yellow card of the 2006 World Cup goes to Costa Rica's Danny Fonseca in the 30th minute.

I've got chills ...

First you spend much of your history as the victim of the territorial ambitions of Germany and Russia.

Then, when you finally get some decent soccer talent, it moves to Germany.

Yep, both of Germany's star strikers Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski were born in Poland. C'mon, is that really fair?

Some day, Poland will have its time in the sun. Some day ....

Goes to Germany's Schweinsteiger. (say it with me, it's fun!!!)

If you remember, back in 2002, both David Beckham and Clint Mathis showed up at the World Cup, sporting the mohawk. Why? Beats the heck out of me. Schweinsteiger's is more like Beckham's in the sense that it's not a fully shaved head around the mohawk. Rather, it's just a nice mousse job on the blond hair in the middle.

Germany leads 2-1.

Thanks to Germany's insistence on playing an offside trap against a quicker team, Costa Rica has had some scoring chances and would have had more if the referee's assistants understood that level when the ball is played IS ONSIDE.

Wily old Paolo Wanchope, a former EPL regular, has made the German defense look slow on more than one occasion.

It says here that if the Germans abandon the trap in the second half, they win by three goals.

... which means no incredibly jingoistic game-calling when the U.S. is playing.

I'm fairly pleased with the broadcast crew ESPN's trotted out for the opener. Dave O'Brien is normally a baseball guy, but I think his lack of soccer background actually works well here. He calls the action and then gets the heck out of the way for his color man, Marcelo Balboa.

While Balboa still owns one of the most awful hairdos ever - it's like a mullet on steroids - I've been impressed so far. His best analysis so far? That Germany is playing with fire by trying to use an onsides trap against fleet Costa Rican forward Paulo Wanchope. They've already been burned once. Why not just try some good old fashioned man-on-man defense? You're Germany, for the love of Lothar Mattheus (I have no idea if I spelled that right).

Oh boy, this could get ugly for Costa Rica.

Lahm crosses over to Klose, who heads it down toward goal. Porras gets a piece of it, but can't control the rebound. Klose pounds in his second chance.

3-1 Germany.

Another good point by Balboa. Porras had no business trying to catch that header. He should have deflecte it out wide. Instead, the ball went off his chest and hands and right back to Klose.

In Porras' defense, he doesn't appear to have one in front of him. No one was anywhere near Klose when he attempted the header. That allowed him to then waltz in and knock in the easy rebound.

Meanwhile, Polish fans continue to claw their eyes and wonder what might have been if Klose was playing for their squad.

A little old-fashioned justice just meted out on the pitch, Legend of Billy Jean style.

Martinez for Costa Rica went down with an apparent calf injury. The unwritten rule of soccer is that the opposing team knocks the ball out of bounds during that time to give the injured guy a chance to get off the field. The Germans didn't do that, though. So moments later, Wanchope plowed over Schweinsteiger (sounds like a bad metal band doesn't it?). After a few more moments of play, the Costa Ricans punted the ball out of bounds, as if to say, "See, that's what you should have done!"

This game could get chippy down the stretch. Not George Laroque cheapshotting Andrew Ladd chippy, but pretty close.

But the Germans wouldn't listen. That stupid offsides trap - and a potential missed call by the refs - results in Wanchope getting behind the German defense and getting another one past Lehmann. (You can almost hear Germany's fans yelling "Kahn!!!!!!" for their backup keeper, Oliver Kahn, just like William Shatner in the Star Trek movie, or George Costanza in Seinfeld.)

So it's 3-2 now, in favor of Germany. And Costa Rica, which needs to limit its goal differential if wants to advance out of group play, has some hope. Heck, Costa Rica might still have a shot at tying this game.

Every time they called his name, I kept thinking about Gabrielle Solis, Eva Longoria's character in Desparate Housewives.

Maybe I shouldn't make that sort of knowledge of chick tv so public.

I knew German coach Jurgen Klinsmann was making his squad a more aggressive, attacking unit, but ... wow!

The Germans just added another goal, this one on a wicked, knuckling blast by Torsten Frings from about 40 yards out. So much for sitting on a one-goal lead.

The game's now in injury time, so it looks like Germany will hold on for a 4-2 win.

Unless it wants to go for five.

Final score, Germany 4, Costa Rica 2.

A very, very entertaining opener to the World Cup. The Germans have ton of scoring power - they scored four even without main man Michael Ballack in the lineup. The Costa Ricans showed their dangerous enough to contend for the No. 2 spot in Group A and - more importantly - showed that Germany is very very vulnerable on its backline.

The mistakes Germany made agains Costa Rica cost them two goals. What will it cost them once they get out of group play?

Okay, that's all for now. I don't think I'll do a running diary for the Ecuador-Poland match, unless the public demands it.

and so much more is available at this blog site - sportolysis.com These guys took the time to interview people from each of the 32 participating countries. Well, they had to rely on a journalist who's been to Togo, but still you've got to applaud the effort.

I'll be sending along other World Cup blog links as we go alon.

But first, you gotta see the clip of this kid from Brazil, Kerlon Souza. He's not in the World Cup, but he's apparently come up with this new move, called the Seal Dribble. Basically, he bounces the ball lightly off his own forehead as he runs down the field. It's funky looking, but how do get the ball away from him without fouling?

The seal dribble stuff is shown at the beginning of the clip. After that, just enjoy the vocal stylings of the King.

So much for my projected Group A runner-up.

Ecuador was the fourth-place finisher in South American qualifying, but was considered suspect because all but one of its qualifying wins came in the rareified air of Quito (9,252 feet above sea level). Now, it looks as if the Ecuador-Costa Rica game at 9 a.m. Thursday (ESPN2) will decide who joins Germany in the knockout stage from Group A.

Well, at least I didn't have Poland reaching the quarters in my bracket.

Saturday's tripleheader presents at least two intriguing matchups: England-Paraguay, which will probably pack Keegan's Pub on Battleground, at 9 a.m. on WXLV-45; and Argentina-Ivory Coast at 3 p.m. on ESPN2.

Who knows if Wayne Rooney will be fit for England's opener, but Sven Goran Eriksson's side is already preparing for the knockout stage by practicing penalty kicks -- with a twist.

As for the Argentina-Ivory Coast matchup, this is a scary one for coach Jose Pekerman's side. The Ivory Coast looks like the most dangerous team to come out of Africa this year, and at least one African squad seems to pull an upset or two every four years. With EPL stalwarts Kolo Toure (Arsenal) and Didier Drogba (Chelsea) in the lineup, the Elephants -- yes, that's their nickname -- can't be taken lightly.

The least attractive of today's three games is the Group B matchup between Sweden and surprise qualifier Trinidad & Tobago at noon on WXLV-45.

OK, I'm not Andreas Cantor, but if you want to hear World Cup games in Spanish in the Triad, you can tune in to two AM stations for the passionate call on every game.

Que Pasa Radio will have coverage throughout the 64-game event on WTOB-1380 and WWBG-1470.

Bueno, muy bueno!

Where are the articles on Eddie Pope in the News & Record? Just as in 2002, High Point's soccer star has been elusive during the buildup to the World Cup.

Eddie spoke with me briefly and was downright cordial after the U.S. MNT's 1-1 draw with Jamaica in Cary back on April 11, leading to a short feature story and photo in our April 12 print edition. But all attempts since then to set up an interview with the veteran defender through his club team, Real Salt Lake, through the U.S. Soccer Federation during the subsequent MNT camp in Cary and even through his family during his three-day break before traveling to Germany proved fruitless.

A Chicago Tribune story in the print edition of Friday's News & Record included Eddie's thoughts on the growing problem of racism in soccer. And we're keeping an eye on our wire services for word on how the former Southwest Guilford and UNC standout is feeling as Monday's opener against the Czech Republic draws nearer.

One of these days, Eddie will tell us why he doesn't want to talk to us at length. But until then, you can check him out on video at the U.S. Soccer Federation's Web site. Just launch the Studio 90 feature and go to Wednesday, June 7, in the archive for "Back 4 - Convey and Pope." It's an informal Q&A with Eddie and his World Cup roommate, Bobby Convey.

Most of the laughs are provided by Convey, including a Jeff Agoos own-goal reference, but Eddie is his usual thoughtful and articulate self. I just wish he'd send a little shout out to the folks back home.

Well, that was 90 minutes of my life I can't get back.

When David Beckham's long free kick resulted in an own goal by Paraguay in the fourth minute, I was settling in for what I thought would be a pretty entertaining soccer match. Instead, the lads appeared content to play it safe with that lead and Paraguay appeared content to come away with a minimal -1 in the goal differential. The result was hundreds of millions of people worldwide collectively watching grass grow.

I'm a fan of England - after the U.S. of course - so while I'm happy to get the three points, I'm also looking at the down side, like any good English fan would. This club is supposed to be loaded with talented midfielders, have talented goal scorers up front and a rock-solid defense. I saw some decent D today, but not much else. The buildups through the midfield were nonexistent, as England appeared content to rely on longballs to its 6-7 striker, Peter Crouch, who was a poor man's Thor Andre Flo today.

Ahh well, at least I can console myself by heading over to www.healrooney.com. I used my mouse over the foot and helped England's star striker, Wayne Rooney, get that much closer to healthy.

Watching a bit of Japan-Australia while waiting for the U.S.-Czech Republic game.

It's in the 58th minute and Japan leads 1-0 on Shunsuke Nakamura's goal that certainly looked to me as if it should have been called back. Nakamura's cross from the right wing got past Aussie keeper Mark Schwarzer, who appeared to be interfered with by not one but two Japanese attackers.

Not the most stirring game to this point.

Let's hope the United States is ready to put on a better show at noon. Bruce Arena's squad really needs at least a point against the Czech Republic, and three would go a long way toward booking a spot in the knockout round.

WOW!

Australia had never scored a goal in the World Cup finals. The Aussies just scored three in a span of eight minutes to beat Japan 3-1.

That's the good news for the Aussies. The bad news?

Brazil is next, at noon Sunday on WXLV-45.

Oh, well. That means the Aussies' fate in the group stage will be determined June 22 against Croatia.

And what of the Brazilians? They don't play their opener until 3 p.m. Tuesday (ESPN2). I guess FIFA wanted to save the best for last.

Ummm, still not sure. I watched the first half of Holland's 1-0 win over Serbia & Montenergo and was duly impressed. The team that gave us "total football" looked skilled and efficient, strong from the frontline, with Arjen Robben and Ruud Van Nistelrooy, to the back, where the ageless gumby Edwin Van der Sar pitched a shutout.

Still, this wouldn't be the Dutch if there wasn't somehow a problem, even in victory. Allegedly, some of Robben's teammates believed he fell a litlte too in love with his own skill - after scoring the game's only goal - and didn't pass enough. I'd heard they made some comments to the press about him, but I haven't found it yet.

And you wonder why one of the most talented soccer nations in the world has never won the Cup.

... when the crowd sings along. Either they've got mikes strategically placed in the U.S. cheering sections or the Americans really did travel well to this World Cup. I'd heard that the crowd was roughly 60% Czech, 40% U.S. The national anthem response seems to confirm that.

Come to think of it, when was the last time you actually heard a crowd at an American sporting event roar the national anthem as one? I thought about this on Saturday when I heard the Edmonton crowd proudly belt out "Oh Canada." You just don't see - or hear - that much on American soil.

Let's hope that's not the high point of today's game for the Yanks.

Geez, you look down to type something and the U.S. may already be done in the World Cup.

Somehow, the Czech'e found a ton of space on the right side and crossed it in to the box to their giant striker Jan Koller. He easily headed it in for a 1-0 lead in the fifth minute.

Time to shift goals. A tie would be nice wouldn't it?

The Czech Republic's 6-7 Jan Koller with a header in the sixth minute after he pushed Pope out of the way as if he wasn't even there. Kasey Keller had no chance to make the save.

after the despair of how watching the Czechs go ahead with disturbing ease. Now the U.S. is controlling possession, has gotten the ball into the Czech box and has won a corner. They look like they're settling down.

Or maybe I'm just reaching. I still have no idea how you defend Koller. That guy's huge.

Marcelo Balboa - who's been very good so far as the color commentator with Dave O'Brien - just made a very good point. The one position where the U.S. really doesn't have a comfortable fit is left back. Eddie Lewis is much more of an attacker when he plays for his club team, Reading, in Englad.

Where was the weak link on that first goal? Left back.

I don't know whether to feel happy at what almost happened or to sob about what didn't happen.

After a beautiful buildup through the middle, Claudio Reyna blasted a shot from the top of the box that bounced once and slammed off the left post.

It was impressive, but you also wonder how many opportunities like that the U.S. will get against a Czech tam that is already starting to play conservatively.

...Tomas Rosicky with a 25-yard blast to make it 2-0 Czech Republic.

Jim Young was right. The U.S. missed it's chance when Reyna hit the post, and that's it for this game.

Now, it's all about goal differential.

His question to Balboa - "Can the U.S. get one back before halftime?"

Maybe he should ask - "Should the U.S. just go with five midfielders and five strikers since their defenders have been so poor so far?"

As Balboa pointed out, Rosicky's great shot was the result of a very poor clear. It looked like it was Onyewu who, though he had no pressure whatsoever, headed the ball out of the box and right down the middle of the field to Rosicky.

Oh, and Balboa just told us the U.S. can come back.

I guess, in theory, there's a chance. But, wow, the U.S. speed is nonexistent right now.

This could be bad for the Czech's shot in this tourney. He was racing for a long ball and just went down on his own, clutching is right hammy. They've already subbed him out.

But hey, as smilin' Dave O'Brien just said, it's a good break for the U.S.!

Careful Dave, you're edging into Jack Edwards territory here.

Let's see...

What went right?

1. The quick buildup to Claudio Reyna's shot that clanged off the left post.
2. Jan Koller is out for the Czechs.

What went wrong? This is more like a Letterman top 10 list, just a bit shorter.

7. The Czechs scored first. With the lead, they were able to get numbers behind the ball and thwart the slow U.S. attack.
6. DaMarcus Beasley started the game on the right side of midfield. Beasley is left-footed, very left-footed. He was already whining a week ago about the possibility of having to play on the right side. Unless he's on the left for the second half, bring on John O'Brien and let Beasley pout on the bench.
5. Eddie Lewis got caught forward a couple of times. Having a natural midfielder (Lewis starts there for Leeds United in England) playing in the back is great when he's going forward; it's not so good when he has to get back. He also seemed to get in the way of Bobby Convey on the left, and his presence pushed Beasley to the right side, where he clearly wasn't comfortable.
4. Landon Donovan has been invisible. Donovan is playing like he did during his two stints in the German Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen. He needs to pick it up considerably in the second half.
3. Eddie Pope was matched up with Jan Koller on a ball in the air. The whole point of adding Oguchi Onyewu's athleticism and size (6-4, 210) to the U.S. backline was to match him up with the likes of Koller. Instead, the Czech counterattack created a mismatch that made it 1-0.
2. Tomas Rosicky hit a bomb. Rosicky's shot beats any goalie in the world, any time, anywhere. The problem was the poor clearance by Onyewu. He couldn't have set up Rosicky any better.
1. And the number one thing that went wrong was ... the U.S. went behind 2-0. As ESPN2 just pointed out, teams trailing 2-0 at halftime have never won a World Cup game in seventysomething tries.

Substitutions for the U.S. in the second half: Eddie Johnson for Steve Cherundolo and John O'Brien for Pablo Mastroeni. Clearly offensive moves as Arena shifts from a 4-4-2 to a 3-5-2 with O'Brien much more offensive-minded in midfield than Mastroeni and Johnson looking to bring speed as a forward (also allowing Donovan to drop into midfield, where he's more comfortable) with Cherundolo out on defense.

I rely on Joe's greater soccer expertise for analysis in moments like these, when my initial response would be to say that the U.S. played like (expletive deleted).

I will, however, begin a different sort of analysis to pass the time in the second half while I wait for the U.S. to do SOMETHING.

Who exactly, does Czech midfielder Pavel Nedved - he of the long flowing blond locks - look like.

My initial attempt? Owen's Wilson's character, Hansel, in Zoolander, a totally forgettable movie about male models.

Okay, I tried to be nice and I tried to be optimistic.

And hey, I'll gladly conceded that the Czechs were the better team coming into this.

But hey, how about some sort of spark from the U.S. team? Some semblance of effort? How do you come out for your World Cup debut and look soooooooooo flat?

Reyna just made a horrible giveaway deep in U.S. territory that almost made it 3-0 Czech Republic.

When you feel lucky to be down just 2-0. Rosicky, the guy who pounded in the second goal, was left all alone near the top of the box for another shot. This one glanced off the crossbar.

A little defense? Anyone?

... is the stock of U.S. players crashing on the transfer market.

It's never quite as bad as it seems at the time, but this performance has been bad. When your highlight for the half is Eddie Johnson turning and firing wide from the top of the box, it's not good.

... that was Onyewu getting torched again on Tomas Rosicky's second goal, which made it 3-0.

Onyewu is probably wishing he'd already signed with Middlesborough. Neither 'borough nor anyone else in the EPL is going to want anything to do with him after this.

And that means the U.S. is probably toast in the realm of goal differential.

Of course, if the U.S. keeps playing like this, the second round is a mere pipe dream.

I'll still keeping asking this question for a while though.

Why, why, why is DeMarcus Beasley still on the right side?

Atleast this guy's doing something. Narrowly put one over the cross bar.

I know Bruce Arena is a genius, but maybe I could make this suggestion?

Put Johnson up front with McBride at the forward position and move Donovan back to midfield. The only time the U.S. had any kind of a buildup was when Donovan was starting it from the middle.

This, THIS is the best U.S. World Cup team ever?

Again, I understand the Czechs are a very good team and a loss here by the U.S. not a shock. But the shock lies in how the game was lost. A flat U.S. team showed no creativity, no energy and no heart.

Even Alexi Lalas and Eric Wynalda - who have been acting as U.S. national team PR reps in the studio - couldn't help but blast the Red, White and Blue.

"A complete failure" was Lalas' analysis.

Wynalda took aim at the two wingers for the U.S. - Beasley and Convey.

"Go back and take a look at how many balls you played backward," Wynalda said. "Your job is to move the ball forward, not backward."

Couldn't agree more, Eric. The supposed strength of the U.S. was in its speed. The thought was that the U.S. might be able to exploit the Czechs by stretching them out wide and attacking on the wings. That meant that Convey and Beasley had to play key roles. Instead, they may have been the two worst players on the field (although Onyewu could give them a run for their money).

One final time, I will ask - why was Beasley on the right wing? He clearly doesn't want to play there.

That performance set U.S. soccer back 16 years.

No life, other than Eddie Johnson. No fire, not even any anger. I'll be curious to see if Bruce Arena falls on his sword and takes the blame or he points a finger at the players in the postgame.

About the only thing the U.S. players can take away from this game is some nice, clean Czech Republic jerseys they received in the traditional postgame swap. None of the Czech players had to sweat much or got many grass stains on them.

For any U.S. fans still watching the World Cup after that performance, you want a tie from Italy-Ghana. Not that the U.S. has a prayer of advancing now, but that's the best mathematical result. And even if the U.S. gets that result, it will need to beat Italy and Ghana.

Oh, well, maybe the Italians will be overconfident Saturday. It would be hard not to be after watching the U.S. performance against the Czechs.

I thought Alexi Lalas and Eric Wynalda were going to throw down in the ESPN2 studio during their postgame "analysis." When Wynalda said something about this being the first World Cup experience for Onyewu, Lalas launched into a tirade about how this U.S. team's strength was supposed to be experience and how no one led the team against the Czechs. Wynalda got defensive and you could see some of their old animosities from their days as teammates in the World Cup flare anew.

Lalas and Wynalda showed more emotion and fire in that segment than the U.S. team did all afternoon.

I've said a lot over the past four years about how far the U.S. has come as a soccer nation. Some evidence of that progress was just how upset the U.S. analysts were after the game.

This team is at a crossroads. It can regroup and show some heart and professionalism by grabbing three or four points from its remaining games against Italy and Ghana. Or it can go in the tank like the '98 team did in France.

I'd like to believe that Bruce Arena, unlike Steve Sampson, won't let that happen. But I also thought back after today's game to the 4-1 loss March 22 in Germany, where the U.S. was totally dominated by the hosts at a time when German coach Juergen Klinsmann's job might have been in jeopardy. After that game, U.S. keeper Kasey Keller ripped his teammates on a day when his own performance was dreadful. Hindsight is 20-20, but that may have been a sign of things to come in Germany for the U.S. team.

Is every member of the Italian national team required to use some sort of hair care product? It sure seems that way.

Pretty boys or not, the Azurri are up 1-0 on Ghana.

But again, why was Beasley on the right side?

As Joe pointed out earlier, the speedy wing is VERY left-footed. And apparently never happy about playing on the right. Yet Arena still insisted on putting him on