A look at the USA's Group E opponents in action on Wednesday:
With its two latest victories in friendly games — 3-1 over the Netherlands in Amsterdam last November and 4-1 over Germany in Florence on Wednesday — Italy now finds its among the serious contenders to win the World Cup. For all the talk of potentially losing Roma star Francesco Totti, out with a fractured tibia, for the Germany Æ06 finals, Italy hardly missed him. Just as they did without Totti in Amsterdam, forwards Alberto Gilardino and Luca Toni both scored for Italy against Germany. Alessandro Del Piero, TottiÆs replacement in the Italian attack, and TottiÆs Roma teammate, Daniele De Rossi, subbing in midfield for Gennaro Gattuso, got the other goals. the win extended Italy's unbeaten streak to 16 games.
Chelsea keeper Petr Cech isnÆt invincible. The giant Cech gave up a rebound late in the Czech RepublicÆs game against Turkey in Izmir, allowing sub Umit Karan to score in the 89th minute and reduce the CzechsÆ lead to 2-1. Three minutes into stoppage time, Umit scored a second goal to give the Turks a 2-2 tie. The good news for the Czechs was that striker Jan Koller trained with the team. Koller continues his comeback bid after suffering a serious knee injury.
Before a less-than-capacity crowd of 19,513 for the first international match involving Mexico at the Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas, Ghana fell to the Tri, 1-0, on a goal by Argentine-born Guillermo Franco. The game marked the return of Chelsea star Michael Essien, who missed the African Nations Cup. ''I'm disappointed because we did not come here to lose,'' Essien said. ''But it's difficult because many of us haven't played together.''