BERLIN, 17 June 2006 — The US face Italy in Kaiserslautern still looking for their first World Cup win on European soil. Beaten by a rampant Czech Republic in Gelsenkirchen on June 12, Bruce Arena’s side will be going home early if they lose to Italy.
Tomas Rosicky, who destroyed the Americans in the Czech Republic’s first fixture, scoring twice, must shoulder the scoring burden again in the continued absence of Milan Baros and Jan Koller against Ghana in Cologne.
And in today’s third game Portugal, who could welcome back Deco, look to build on their winning start against Angola by beating Iran in Frankfurt. US fullback Steve Cherundolo admits the Americans need a big improvement to turn things around. He said: “We will regroup and come out stronger against the Italians.
“We have no choice but to improve. We didn’t keep our shape well against the Czechs. We have to improve on that and we have to win more of the second balls.” US striker Brian McBride who is still waiting for the goal that will mean he joins the elite ranks of players who have scored in three World Cups was also critical of the US’s first showing. He said: “Generally, we just didn’t play well enough against a very good team who punished the mistakes we made. Heading into the Italy match we really need to come out with more confidence and play with much more composure at speed if we?re going to get a result.” Youngster Bobby Convey who was one of few players singled out for praise by coach Bruce Arena after the match summed-up the US’s predicament. “If we come out and play as badly against Italy as we did against the Czechs, we’re going to lose. It’s just that simple.” In the other match in Group E the Czech Republic face Ghana on a high from their impressive first performance but weakened by injury problems to their two first-choice strikers. Koller, who pulled a hamstring just before halftime against the US, looks unlikely to return before the knockout stage and Baros is still struggling with an Achilles injury.
Vratislav Lokvenc, who replaced Koller against the US, is expected to continue as the lone striker with support from Tomas Rosicky whose stunning double against the Americans was one of the highlights of the first round of matches. In today’s third game Portugal will look to step up a gear against Iran in Group D. They were booed by their own fans for only managing to beat Angola 1-0 but welcome back Barcelona’s Deco for their second game.
Portugal’s biggest injury doubt is over Ronaldo who tweaked a hamstring in training but should be fit to start. Iran coach Branko Ivankovic is pondering replacing veteran 37-year-old striker Ali Daei with the younger faster Arash Borhani.
