NEW YORK - The draw for the soccer World Cup to be held in Germany in June-July 2006 places the United States in a tough group with Italy, the Czech Republic and Ghana. All three teams are strong by themselves and it is going to be a tight path ahead for the Americans.
Claudio Reyna, the U.S. captain agreed that it was a tough group, but said that the other teams in the group would also be concerned about them, "We've earned respect from the last appearance in the World Cup and our current ranking. We know we have players that can also hurt the opponents," he maintained. This draw is in fact a mirror image of what happened in Italy in 1990.
Making a first appearance in a soccer World Cup in 40 years, the Americans went down 5-1 to Czechoslovakia, then lost 1-0 to Italy and finally took a bow after losing 2-1 to Austria. Of course, it's Ghana this time.
U.S. coach Bruce Arena admitted that he had watched those matches in Italy with keen interest, "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," he said after Friday's draw. "I think we're capable of playing with any team in the world." Arena was quite confident that the US would make it through.
“I'm probably going to have to repeat this number of times: All this stuff on paper doesn't mean anything because you play the game on the field and not on a piece of paper.” In 2002, the Americans reached the quarter-finals, but it is going to be a tough act to repeat. Arena has at his disposal a strong side that can upset anyone's applecart on a given day.
Most players like Kasey Keller, DaMarcus Beasley, Eddie Lewis, Claudio Reyna, Brian McBride, Oguchi Onyewu, Carlos Bocanegra and Steve Cherundolo are based in Europe playing for major clubs and this makes his task easier as they can quickly adapt to European conditions. Landon Donovan, based in America is also a bright prospect.
All in all, Germany would provide an insight into how far the US Soccer has gone and how far it needs to go.
Ghana, the four-time African champions are not to be taken lightly as is signified by the fact that their coach Ratomir Dujkovic is in fact happy with the draw. He may be putting on a brave face, but he stressed that the opening game against Italy was vital to get a smooth start.
