US falls to Czech Republic giving away sloppy goals

The defense was a questionmark heading into the World Cup tuneup matches and after the first friendly with the Czech Republic nothing has changed at all.  The good was seeing Gooch Onyewu get a solid runout without injury.  The bad was seeing sloppy defending leading to sloppy goals.  Heath Pierce definitely did not help his case to make the final 23 man roster as he was beaten several times in his 45 minutes of play.  Clarence Goodson also was questionable, but contributed on the offensive end with a nice header to Herculez Gomez for the assist on the second goal. 

There is no reason to doubt the US squad going forward though as the major American stars did not even suit up for the match.  Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Tim Howard, Jozy Altidore, Carlos Bocanegra and Michael Bradley all watched from the stands.  Look out Saturday when the US plays Turkey as the main US lineup should be on display.

The Americans came out with good energy and grabbed the opening goal from a set piece.  A good ball asked Czech keeper Petr Cech to make a play which he could not.  The ball was left in the six where Maurice Edu poked it home.  Just before halftime the Czech's evened the game when Tomas Sivok scored.

The second half saw the US go behind when Jan Polak  scored in the 58th, but the Americans responded well and took the game over evening the game at two as Herculez Gomez headed home.  The US pushed ahead looking for the winner, but it was a Czech goal against the run of play that turned the game.  A late goal from Tomas Necid finished the scoring as the Czech Republic won 4-2.