Rain, Rain Go Away… Oh wait, I live in London.

Despite a pregame phone call from President Bush wishing them luck and dominating possession in the first half, Team USA failed to score even once against the Czech Republic in their group opener yesterday. A dejected team left the field to Coach Bruce Arena's criticism of the performances turned in by almost every player. It only took five minutes for the Czechs to score against US keeper Kasey Keller and it just went downhill from there. By the end of play the Czech Republic, ranked number 2 in the world, was up 3-0.

Here's hoping that Team USA follow Arena's advice and don't let the Czechs beat them twice by taking their embarrassment at this loss into Saturday's match against Italy.

As much as I'm going to be supporting the good old US of A in the upcoming World Cup I have to admit to quite a fondness for a certain lurpy Liverpool and England striker. Even before the t.v. advent of his Robot Dance (click here to see video of the goal and dance at YouTube) in the friendly against Hungary, I enjoyed watching Peter Crouch. Perhaps it's the fact that he's 6'7" and is so skinny he looks like he'll snap in half if someone runs into him… or maybe it's just that he's actually really good at what he does. Either way, I love his dance and hope he gets the chance to perform it a few times during the World Cup.  

It's that time again- the World Cup is going to start soon. Many of you are reading this and asking yourselves what exactly I mean when I say 'World Cup'. Obviously it doesn't relate to football, baseball, hockey, basketball or even golf, so what could it possibly be? Say it with me, people: soccer. Or, as it's called in the rest of the world: football. Yes, the United States has a national soccer team and we're even ranked fairly high in the world standings (word of advice- don't ask a non-American about our high ranking because they'll go on about how it's ridiculous to put the US above teams like Italy, blah, blah, blah… I say who cares? We're ranked 5th, so let's take advantage of it!)

The US team's first World Cup match is 12 June 2006 against Czech Republic. I admit that I'm a newbie supporter of our soccer studs (oh, how I love alliteration!), but that won't stop me from throwing myself into cheering them on. Granted I live in London and this entire city is going to be consumed with England World Cup fever, but I'm willing to risk bodily harm in support of the good old US of A. It's practically my patriotic duty!

And don't forget to chant as loudly as possible, particularly if you're in the company of non-Americans while watching a game, "U-S-A! U-S-A!" It really pisses off everyone else.