[Theoden]

I was distraught when I learned we lost 3 zip. I admit I did not expect the US to beat the Czechs, but I was expecting more of a 1-0 or 2-1 game. Now were going to play Italy, so I really don't expect us to get out of the 1st round :(

If the US gets knocked out, I am hoping for an England vrs. Germany final, with England as the victor, though I like the Germans nearly as much.

Do you guys think we'll make it out of round 1?

[FostersExport]

I don’t think the USA will escape the group. Italy looked good. Even beating Ghana will be tough.

I am looking forward to seeing Brazil play. Apart from anything else I have Adriano in my fantasy team and I’ve not seen him play before :oO

France might be an interesting one. They still haven’t looked like showing much spark in the games I’ve seen them play but they have been getting the results.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Do you guys think we'll make it out of round 1?

Nope. Not after the effort I saw yesterday. We were badly outplayed.

That said, I hope I am wrong and we can turn things around.

[soccer_maniac]

I thought we had a 45% chance to advance coming into this WC.

My new thoughts are we have about a 10% chance to advance.

We need to beat Italy, we all know that, but Italy has far better players technically speaking and know that they likely would only need a draw from us to advance (considering the goal differential).

The Italians will be watching for the CZE/GHA result (that game is first up Saturday). If the Czechs win, the Italians will probably bunker down and play very conservatively. A tie is all they need to advance at that point.

[Sam's Army]

"Do you guys think we'll make it out of round 1?"

No, but most pundits had us picked for 3rd in the group before play began.

I can't think that the US camp is in as much dissarray as they were in '98 with some of the Sampson/Harkes/Waldo drama...but harder facts usually surface after the games are done.

And speaking of done, my guess is that Bruce Arena may be tendering his resignation come July; no matter how well we do from here.

[goldstategop]

I predict Germany or Italy and Brazil or Argentina are the prohibitive favorites to make it to final next month. I give Germany good odds because after all they are playing on home territory and anticipate a repeat of 74, the second time they won the World Cup.

[Imnotalib]

Not unless someone pulls off a miracle. It was bad enough that we lost, but we lost without playing much. A team can lose 3-0 and still have put put up a good battle, but as many freepers commented already, our strategy seemed to consist mostly of standing and watching.

I simply don't know what the problem was - we have the players to put in a much better performance. There just didn't seem to be any passion.

Anyway, I don't think we'll ever reach the top echelons of the sport unless and until somehow young people start playing on their own - our players all learn from being coached, and it eliminates some of the creativity (IMHO) you see from players like Ronaldinho, Maradonna, or Pele.