U.S. Disappointing in World Cup Opener

It took this long for me to calm down long enough to write something about the U.S. Soccer team's opening game against the Czech Republic at this year's World Cup. Although the Czech Republic is a very good team, the U.S. team looked like they were not prepared to play in a world cup game. They brought the same low level of energy into the world cup that had permeated their last few friendly matches leading up to the world cup. Despite a couple bright spots, including Claudio Reyna hitting the post and Landon Donovan's 1:1 effort drawing a yellow card on the Czech defender, the majority of the U.S. play was unenthusiastic and slow. Claudio Reyna is getting older and slower, so when he looks like one of the quickest U.S. players on the field, the team is in trouble. I could continue on like this for a while, but it's too painful. I want to relive the good times. I still distinctly remember the great pride I felt getting up at 2:55am to watch the U.S. take (and maintain) the lead over Portugal in 2002. I'm glad this year's game took place in mid-day as it would have been difficult to justify any loss of sleep to watch it. That being said, the U.S. has a good team, a team that can beat Italy, but only if it plays like the last couple matches of world cup qualifying, not like in the recent friendlies. I'm rooting for the U.S. to beat Italy on my birthday (the day before my first father's day). If they don't, then I start rooting for my more distant heritage, as I'll root Italy on to win the whole thing.