once gain, how did Italy do against Mexico the last World Cup? A late Del Piero goal salvaged a 1-1 tie. Stop it, my knees are trembling.

Look, I’m glad the Azzuri dominated soccer in the 1930’s, and thats fantastic for all those retired players who won the world cup before the invetion of the forward pass. But right now, after Euro 2004, I’m more scared of the Czech Republic than Italy.

Both teams are great and potential tournament winners, but European overconfidence did wonders for Portugal last time around (and France). Here’s hoping you guys keep making the same mistakes.

By “compete,” Bruce was clearly referring to scoring a goal in a somewhat respectable 4-1 contest –> as opposed to getting trounced 6-o.

Beating the Azzurri = Crack Dreams.

Bruce knows he has to beat Ghana and the Czechs for the U.S. to have any chance of advancing.

Overall, I really appreciate Arena’s attitude. Like Rick, I don’t feel like our team has to apologize for being there.

I’d rather they exude confidence than talk about how they’re just happy to be there. At the start of camp, I think some players were a little apologetic, as if they were saying, “We don’t think we’re going to win it all”. Now they’ve got a little bit of swagger–not a lot–but a little. They believing in themselves, and I think that will increase a little more with this weeks’ games.

I suspect the big teams are still discounting us, and they’ll find that we’re MUCH stronger than they first thought. It is very likely we will win the group with 7 points. I see us eventually advancing to the quarterfinals and falling to France (oh the shame). Go USA!

If they give Italy a hard time on the 12th, then I guess I called it right.

But given Ghana’s current form (see the Ghana blog) that doesn’t seem like a possibility.

Thats what this is about. USA is fit, and doesn’t have anything holding them back. On match day, USA is capable of pulling off wins.

Look at the quarter final against Germany in 2002. Too bad we lost the match, but we literally owned them. So we know we can give ppl a serious run for their money and heck maybe even win the cup!

The squad needs to remember that they are playing powerhouses, and despite the ridiculous FIFA ranking, the United States is not a football powerhouse just yet.

How many of us would HONESTLY say that the United States plays to the same level as the Europeans?

There’s no doubt that the team has improved since ‘90, but there is still a long, long way to go, and I don’t think that athleticism (everybody always likes to talk about how athletic the team is) is the key here. The key is real European experience, and more US players need to get it – and THE COACH needs to get it – before the U.S. will become a powerhouse.