U.S. poised for World Cup

Many believe there's pressure on the United States to do well at this summer's World Cup to prove that 2002 was no fluke. Realistically, the players and coaches are laughing at that notion.

Deseret Morning News graphicU.S. team, probable startersRequires Adobe Acrobat.

In comparison to countries like Portugal and Argentina, who flopped in 2002, or England, which even faces criticism on Christmas, the U.S. National Team is cruising on easy street at the 2006 World Cup.

"If you really understand how the World Cup works, they're four years apart and totally different events," said U.S. defender Eddie Pope. "If you really consider those things, there really isn't pressure. They're two totally different events."

No one knows that better than U.S. fans. No one will ever forget the debacle of '98 in France in which the U.S. didn't win a game and only scored one goal. The embarrassment associated with the Steve Sampson experiment made 2002 that much more meaningful as the Yanks stunned the world by advancing to the quarterfinals.

So how will 2006 play out in Germany? Will the reality of playing in the difficult Group E expose the United States' No. 5 FIFA ranking for the joke that it is? Or perhaps, can the U.S. catch another European giant by surprise in the opening game and ride the momentum into the knockout stage?

That's the beauty of the World Cup, it's impossible to predict. No one could've foreseen the 2002 World Cup quarterfinals including Senegal, South Korea, Turkey and the United States.

While some are referring to Group C, which includes Argentina and Holland, as the Group of Death in 2006, some would argue that Group E is equally as difficult. Even though the FIFA rankings are basically a fraud, the reality is that Group E teams Italy, Czech Republic and the United States are all ranked in the top 10, while Ghana is an unknown quantity from Africa.

For the United States, which qualified easily for its fifth consecutive World Cup out of the CONCACAF region, virtually all of its hopes hinge on its first game against the Czech Republic on June 12.

According to a recent Soccer America article, in the past two World Cups, of the 23 teams who lost their opening game, only one advanced to the second round. In contrast, of those 23 winning teams, 20 advanced.

So even though the United States doesn't carry the weight of a nation's hopes on their shoulders like some national teams, the pressure is still definitely there on opening day.