So i was wondering what everyone thought about the Czech team that we'll be facing in 18 days time. Since I am from there my view on the team is a bit skewed just thought I'd pick up some opinions from you guys.

key matchups:
Koller-Onyewu
Nedved-Reyna
Ujfalusi-whoever is on the right wing

Peter Cech is one of, if not the best, goalies in the WC. He scares me as much as any field player does. We have difficulty putting on shots on frame to begin with...throw in a guy who can make miraculous saves on a consistent basis and you have a lot of cause for concern.

If the US pulls off an upset, I don't think it will be of the 3-2 variety we saw against Portugal in Korea. I think it will be of the 1-0 variety meaning our defense has to win the game for us. Not to say we shouldn't play attacking soccer, or we should bunker in...I just don't think we can win a high scoring game.

I don't know too much about CR. I need to get to studying up on them and the rest of our WC opponents and all of the WC participants for that matter.

The czech are an excellent team that can put the ball in the net. During euro wc qualifying they were tied for the most goals scored (35 in 12 matches compared to our 22 in 10 versus inferior talent) with portugal. They allowed 12 goals which is the highest of any second place team but played in a group with the netherlands and romania who are both high quality teams. The focus of the offense is the play making ability of pavel nedved and their two strikers jan koller and milan baros. Baros is a high quality striker who earns most of his goals running at defenders and using his speed. Koller is a special talent. If you have never seen him picture the soccer equivilant of Shaq. six foot seven and amazing power, he is the focus of their offense. The key to this match up is shutting him down. Him and Gooch should have a mini wrestling match the entire game. The czech were fantastic in the euro cup and were great in the begining of qualifying. Near the end of qualifying they began to scuffle and lost their automatic bid as one of the top two second place teams. Koller is coming of an injury and baros has not been in great form. We will definitely not be favored and I can almost guarentee you that the czech will score at least one goal. We cannot play the way we did against morocco and hope to win against the czech and the italians.

Remember that during the run of qualifying that the Czech's starting slipping we were missing our captain, Pavel Nedved, who has come out of international retirement to lead the team once more. I think if Koller looks to be back in form (scored two goals in his first game back for 7 months) this will be a tough one for us. US meaning the USA, sorry for the confusion.

[This message has been edited by riley290 (edited 5/25/2006 2:29p).]