U.S. team draws tough group for Cup
NEW YORK – The first round of soccer’s 2006 World Cup looks a lot like 1990 to the United States.
The Americans were drawn Friday into a difficult first-round group for next year’s tournament in Germany. They’ll open June 12 against the Czech Republic, the world’s second-ranked team. Next up is three-time champion Italy on June 17, followed by four-time African champion Ghana on June 22.
Back at the 1990 tournament in Italy, a nervous bunch of post-college all-stars was beat up 5-1 by Czechoslovakia in the Americans’ first World Cup appearance in 40 years. Then they lost 1-0 to the Italians in Rome before exiting with a 2-1 loss to Austria.
“I sat in the stands in Italy and shook my head,” U.S. coach Bruce Arena said following the draw in Leipzig. “And not to disrespect the performance of our players, but it was so obvious to me at that point in time that we had a long way to go, and 16 years later we get to replay these matches. So it will be interesting to see where we are.”
The Americans have never beaten any of their three opponents, and their group is the only one with three nations among the top 12 in the FIFA world rankings: the Czechs are second, the Americans eighth and the Italians 12th. They’re 0-3-2 against Italy, never played Ghana and had just that one match against the Czechs. British bookmaker William Hill increased the U.S. odds from 80-1 to 100-1 after the draw.
“It certainly looks like the toughest group,” defender Eddie Lewis said.
Midfielder Clint Dempsey viewed the draw from the opposite perspective.
“Be careful what you ask for, but I think it could have been a lot worse,” he said.
Still, after beating Portugal and Mexico at the 2002 World Cup and outplaying Germany for much of a 1-0 quarterfinal loss, American players are confident. The only holdover from the 1990 team is goalkeeper Kasey Keller, voted 2005 U.S. player of the year.
“If you are Italy or Czech, you can’t take the U.S. or Ghana for granted,” midfielder DaMarcus Beasley said.
Players were dispersed around the United States and Europe as they watched the draw ceremony on television.
“I think it’s a group where we can have a lot of success,” forward Eddie Johnson said. “I think we can go in with great confidence and match up really well.”
In FIFA’s system for the draw, based on performances in the last two World Cups and the rankings, the Americans missed being one of the eight seeded teams by one point.
“It seems to have for the time being come back and hurt us,” U.S. captain Claudio Reyna said. “We’ve probably got as difficult a group as we could have really asked for.”