Thwarted in my attempt to usher in the World Cup watching hosts Germany take on Costa Rica by a bevvy of meetings on Friday, my introduction to this year's competition had to wait until Saturday. I set the Tivo to tape the 6am match, but as expected i failed to awake at the designated hour, mostly because i stayed up until 2am playing Ghost Recon and FIFA World Cup 2006 on the 360. So i rose around 9am and fired up the match from the beginning.

Match 1: England v. Paraguay (group B).
Thank god i didn't lose any sleep to wake up for this piece of crap. The English started off brightly enough, making some probing runs into the Paraguay defense. Within four minutes they were rewarded for their attacks as a dangerous David Beckham free kick into the penalty area was headed into goal by Paraguayan defender Carlos Gamarra. As soon as this happened, i had the pestering thought that this could be the worst thing for England ... in Euro 2004 they closed up shop against France and Portugal after getting an early lead, content to sit on their slim advantage, and wound up losing both matches. While i'm not sure you can accuse them of such a strategy in this case, it's clear their attack never clicked. Peter Crouch failed to use his height to any sort of advantage, as balls in to him frequently overestimated his stature and dribbled out of play harmlessly. Joe Cole was the lone creative element in midfield, executing several impressive runs past the South Americans, but nearly everyone else looked totally flat. Lampard, Gerrard, Owen ... there was next to no link-up play and hence the attack was reduced to a series of long balls in to Crouch. England managed to hold on for the win, but worryingly they allowed a clearly overmatched Paraguay side to hang around and flirt with an equalizer. Striker Nelson Valdez and midfielder Carlos Paredes showed more offensive verve than the whole of England. Luckily England are in arguably the weakest qualifying group and should have no trouble cruising into the knockout stages, but on this evidence they'll be hard pressed to contend with a top side.

I skipped the surprising draw between Sweden and Trinidad & Tobago to grab a quick shower, so as to be unfettered when the highly anticipated afternoon match began.

Match 2: Argentina v. Ivory Coast (group C).
A much-welcome change of pace from the dire morning match, this encounter showcased end-to-end attack and entertained throughout. The Ivory Coast looked menacing in the early going, with Chelsea-boy Didier Drogba running the attack and linking up with midfielder Kader Keita to threaten the Argentine goal. However the South American side were not to be underestimated, and went ahead when another Chelsea striker, Hernan Crespo, latched onto a loose ball in the Ivory Coast six yard box and punched it home. The strike boosted the Argentines, who proceeded to add another before halftime when Juan Riquelme excellently split the Africans' defense with a through ball to Javier Saviola, who slotted past the keeper to double their advantage. The Ivory Coast maintained their pressure throughout the second half, and were rewarded when Didier Drogba turned home an Arthur Boka cross to cut the lead to one. Despite a frantic finish, the Africans would get no closer. Both sides produced excellent football, doing justice to the "group of death" label assigned to group C.

After watching my second match of the day, i headed off to Live 105's BFD at Shoreline with Veronica and Jenz. Unfortunately an outbreak of allergies forced me to head home early at 7pm, but not before i caught up with Aaron and Jeremy Popscene, and saw a disturbingly old-looking Ian McCulloch and Echo and the Bunnymen. A good night's sleep did well to quell my aching sinuses, and allowed me to continue with the World Cup viewing on Sunday morning.

Match 3: Netherlands v. Serbia & Montenegro (group C).
The other half of the group of death faced off at 6am Pacific Time on Sunday, although i joined in via Tivo around 9am. The Dutch have been flying under a lot of pundits' radars because of their relatively young and inexperienced squad, but on this evidence the rest of the world had better heed them. The attacking trio of Ruud van Nistelrooy, Arjen Robben, and Robin van Persie (representing the English triumvirate of Manchester United, Chelsea, and Arsenal) ran the stingy Serbian defense ragged, with Robben stealing the limelight via a series of jinking moves. A lobbed ball from van Persie allowed Robben to race behind the Serbian back four, after which he easily slotted past the keeper for the opener. The Serbs offered next to nothing in attack ... not surprising as they're led by Chelsea castoff Mateja Kezman. After a 1-nil win, the Dutch now look forward to a daunting encounter with Ivory Coast. They can do so confident in their abilities, but rumblings in the Netherlands camp suggest some players are unhappy with Robben's unwillingness to spread the ball. Most of the Dutch attack was routed through him, and as at Chelsea he was worringly uninclined to pass the ball once he kicked on his afterburners. I noticed several occasions where his entertaining run ended in a turnover while an unmarked teammate in prime position to score was left frustrated. If Robben can learn to pass the Dutch may penetrate deep into the knockout stages.

Match 4: Iran v. Mexico (group D).
I only caught the second half of this match as i was watching my tivoed copy of the Netherlands match until 10:15am. Mexico aren't quite as daunting as pre-Cup speculation made them out to be, and triumphed against Iran only thanks to a series of mistakes by the Iranian keeper and defense allowed striker Omar Bravo a clean shot on goal, putting the Mexicans ahead 2-1. A late cross from Mario Mendez to Brazilian-turned-Mexican Antonio Zinha produced a third goal for the Mexicans, a scoreline which based on what i saw flattered the North American side. Room to improve surely. The most interesting thing i took away from this match was watching the Mexican coach smoke on the sidelines. WTF?!

I napped through most of the afternoon group D game between Portugal and Angola, but was awake long enough to see aging superstar Luis Figo set up an easy goal for Pedro Pauleta, and to see a spirited Angola side produce some fine if ultimately unsuccessful football.

Match 5: Czech Republic v. United States (group E).
Which brings us to this morning's match, or as i like to call it, "i stayed home from work to watch this?!" The American press and national team camp were united in their optimism for the team's chances, playing to the Americans' continuing improvement in world soccer as well as signs that the highly regarded Czech team were overrated. Even Dubya called coach Bruce Arena before the match the wish the team luck. Unfortunately, this optimism was unfounded on both counts. The U.S. is not nearly as good as anyone thought it was. And the Czech Republic is definitely not out of gas yet. The Americans were run ragged in defense by a Czech attack orchestrated by the veteran Pavel Nedved, who played like he was 23 rather than 33. On five minutes the Americans did exactly what they had repeatedly said they wouldn't, namely let the giant Czech striker Jan Koller get service in the box. A perfect cross from poorly marked full back Zdenek Grygera found the head of Koller, who had lost not one but two American defenders to head past Kasey Keller for the opening goal. To their credit, the Americans attempted a comeback following this early blow, and were nearly rewarded with an equalizer when Claudio Reyna's shot from the top of the area beat Chelsea and Czech goalkeeper Petr Cech but bounced off the crossbar. However, this was one of frustratingly few American excursions into the Czech half. The U.S. couldn't keep possession, and seemed to pass backward more than they pressed forward. Passes were commonly off by five yards or more from their intended target, even back passes made under little or no pressure. Such sloppy play and poor fundamentals against a well-organized Czech side doomed the U.S. to failure. The star of the European side was undoubtedly new Arsenal signing Tomas Rosicky, who scored the Czech's second with a looping shot into the right top corner of the goal when left disturbingly unmarked on the edge of the area. I felt for Kasey Keller, the American keeper who has yet to win a World Cup match. He's a class act but could do nothing to stem the Czech tide as his back four wilted in front of him. Rosicky added a third midway through the second half when a Nedved through ball found him behind the American defense, and he sidefooted a chip over Keller. That goal really broke the Americans, who thereafter were resigned to a humiliating defeat. Few positives can be taken from this debacle ... we really got housed. Everyone was culpable, from the coaches who fielded a team that looked like they'd never played together before (does everyone think Bruce Arena's policy of not announcing a lineup until the day of the match is still a good thing?) to the players who suddenly forgot the basics of the game. DaMarcus Beasley and Bobby Convey were useless on the wings, routinely failing to get crosses past even the first defender. I think Landon Donovan is wasted as a striker, and needs to be played in midfield where he can exert a greater influence on the game. Reyna is and always has been overrated. Highly touted young U.S. defender Oguchi Onyewu was frequently bamboozled by the creative Czech attack. Where do we go from here? It doesn't get any easier, with Italy (2-nil winners against Ghana later in the day) looming. I'll hold out hope that today's showing was a terrible aberration, but will reluctantly admit that it looks like the Americans may be in for a repeat of the humiliation of France 1998. Despite the media's best spin to market the U.S. team to the American masses in hopes of popularizing the sport here, it seems we are still two (or fifteen, or 2,386) steps behind the international soccer powers. Meanwhile, the Czechs look a force to be reckoned with, although treetrunk striker Jan Koller suffered a potentially World Cup-ending hamstring injury in the second half that may force a reorganization of their attack.