Preview
United States v Czech Rep.
For the US and the Czech Republic, it will be a rematch of sorts when they meet in their World Cup opener today in Gelsenkirchen.
PHOTO: AFP
Sixteen years ago in Florence, Italy, the US played its first World Cup match since 1950 and was routed 5-1 by a Czechoslovakian team celebrating its nation's new freedom.
"You play this game in 1990, which we did, there was never a chance for the United States," US coach Bruce Arena said. "Today the world of soccer, or football, is shrinking. You have players from all these countries in this tournament that play for big clubs that are much more experienced, and they bring those experiences to their national team."
The Czechs, who lost to Greece in extra time in the semifinals of the 2004 European Championship, are ranked second by FIFA. The US is ranked fifth and advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2004 World Cup, its best showing since 1930.
"They play fast soccer," Czech midfielder Tomas Rosicky said. "We've seen what they're capable of."
The Czechs are banged up entering the game. Midfielder Vladimir Smicer (hamstring) was dropped from the roster, forward Milan Baros (strained foot tendon) missed his seventh straight day of training Saturday. Midfielder Pavel Nedved, the 2003 European player of the year, came out of practice on Thursday after hurting a knee.
"You can't believe everything you read in the papers," Arena said. "If you go by press reports, three or four of their top players [are] out. I would guess on Monday [today] that we're going to see them all on the field."
Jan Koller is perched at the top of the Czech offense, a 2.02m target towering above defenders and teammates. The striker has a Czech-record 42 goals in 68 caps, and containing Koller is one of the keys for the US heading into their World Cup match today.
For many months, it was unclear whether Koller would play in the tournament. He tore left knee ligaments while playing for Borussia Dortmund against Mainz 05 on Sept. 24, and many Czech fans were worried.
Koller had surgery on Oct. 7 and his projected rehabilitation time was eight months, but he returned May 2, then scored twice in his club's season finale against Bayern Munich on May 13.
Koller joined the Czech team for its World Cup preparations, and had injured his right thigh during training camp. But he started and played until the 71st minute on May 30 against Costa Rica, then scored twice and had an assist in a 3-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago on June 3.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier