GELSENKIRCHEN - A bad thigh injury sustained by striker Jan Koller took the gloss off Czech Republic's 3-0 victory over United States in their opening Group E game on Monday.
"Unfortunately his injury is very serious," coach Karel Brueckner told reporters. "It is the only negative thing from today's match."
The experienced Koller was stretchered off in the 43rd minute after being hurt in a race for the ball with a U.S. defender.
Man of the match Tomas Rosicky, whose two goals and fine overall performance were the driving force behind the victory, said: "We may have lost Koller and that makes this game tough to take.
"But we're really satisfied with the win and how we played. We had problems early on, we couldn't get our timing right.
"It improved halfway through the first half and I think we controlled the ball much better after that."
Rosicky said the match was not as easy as the result made it appear.
"They were tough opponents," he said. "I am not sure the score indicates how tough they were."
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