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![]() Rosicky double as Czechs hit form
![]() The moment Czech Koller's World Cup may have come to a painful end SPECIAL REPORT
Special: World Cup 2006
GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany (Reuters) -- Two goals from Tomas Rosicky and a Jan Koller header gave the Czech Republic a convincing 3-0 Group E victory over the United States. Rosicky struck a superb 25-meter goal in the 36th minute and then capped the win with his second and the Czech's third in the 76th minute. The Czechs, already struggling to get Euro 2004 top scorer Milan Baros fit, suffered a blow when 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," said spokesman Lukas Tucek. "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 said. Man-of-the-match 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." Arena had a different view, criticising his players especially playmaker Landon Donovan. "Landon showed no aggression," said Arena. "I am very disappointed by the performance of our players."
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