Czechs Sink U.S. in World Cup, Koller Injury Fears Ease

GELSENKIRCHEN - Two goals for Tomas Rosicky and a Jan Koller header gave the Czech Republic a 3-0 World Cup victory over United States on Monday.

Rosicky struck a superb 25 metre goal in the 36th minute and then capped the win with his second and the team's third in the 76th minute.

The Czechs, already struggling to get Euro 2004 top scorer Milan Baros fit, suffered a blow when his fellow striker Koller was carried off on a stretcher late in the first half.

But a team spokesman eased initial fears that Koller's injury was a serious one.

"I can confirm that after tests at the hospital, there is no deformity in the hamstring," Lukas Tucek told Reuters.

"We will see (how he reacts) tomorrow. We thought at first it was a serious injury. We don't think that any more."

Koller, his country's all-time top-scorer, had shown his importance as early as the fifth minute when he powered home an unstoppable header from a cross by overlapping right back Zdenek Grygera.

With Pavel Nedved pulling the strings in midfield the Czechs looked the better side in the first half hour but the U.S. did carve an opening in the 28th minute when captain Claudio Reyna struck the base of a post from outside the box.

However, that effort was eclipsed eight minutes later by Rosicky. Seizing on a poor clearance by Oguchi Onyewu, the midfielder let fly from more than 25 metres to leave Kasey Keller helpless as the ball swerved away from him into the top left corner.

The Czechs, ranked by FIFA as the world's second-best team behind Brazil - but only three places above the Americans - continued to look the more dangerous side after the break despite U.S. coach Bruce Arena changing to a more attacking formation.

Rosicky rattled the bar with another long-range strike in the 68th minute but was bang on target eight minutes later after running on to a Nedved pass and calmly steering past Keller.

U.S. coach Arena criticised his players after their defeat.

"I am very disappointed by the performance of our players over 90 minutes. But give the Czechs credit. They punished us every chance they got," he told reporters.

Italy and Ghana were meeting in the other Group E game later on Monday with the battle for top place in the group all-mportant as it could mean avoiding Brazil in the second round.