USA v CZECH REPUBLIC - STATES CAN BOUNCE CZECHS
Jonathan Turner

This match has the distinction of being the only one of the group games featuring two sides who are both in the top five of the FIFA world rankings.

So it's therefore something of a surprise that - on neutral territory - there's such a gulf between the two teams in the betting.

The Czech Republic, despite a far-from-convincing qualifying campaign and the suspicion that they are now a side on a downward curve, are a shade of odds-on with most firms.

While the United States, who finished above arch rivals Mexico for the first time in their final Concacaf section, are available at 10/3 to start their campaign with a win and that's a price worth taking.

The likes of Brian McBride, Claudio Reyna, Kasey Keller and DaMarcus Beasley will be well known to European football followers but it's the LA Galaxy's Landon Donovan who is the key man.

And there's every chance the USA could be at their most dangerous at the outset given that they are - to some extent - a relative unknown quantity.

They beat Portugal in their opening game at the last World Cup and appear to have the perfect opportunity to repeat the trick here.

For while the Czechs were arguably the best side at Euro 2004 they didn't manage to claim the trophy and it's hard to work up the same enthusiasm for them this time.

They needed Pavel Nedved to come out of international retirement to help them beat Norway in the qualifying play-offs to reach this summer's finals and he's just one of a number of key players about whom there have to be doubts.

Nedved is 33 now and was much more of a marginal figure with Juventus last season while fellow midfielder Karel Poborsky is a year older and playing in the Czech Second Division.

Up front giant striker Jan Koller missed seven months of last season with torn cruciate ligaments and while he's fit again now the same can't be said for Euro 2004 Golden Boot winner Milan Baros who is struggling with a foot problem.

It all adds up to problems aplenty for coach Karel Bruckner to deal with and defeats in qualifying to Holland (twice) and Romania - no other European side to reach Germany lost more - mark them out as a side who it could pay to oppose in the next couple of weeks.

Of course there are also some question marks against the USA - not least the fact they've yet to win a World Cup match on European soil.

But they are a hugely-settled outfit and let's not forget that they not only made the quarter-finals last time but were desperately unlucky not to go a good deal further.

In addition to taking the 10/3 about a USA win there's also a temptation to top it up with a wager on Fulham striker McBride to get on the scoresheet.

Everything goes through him up front and his goal-every-three-games ratio suggests 5/2 about him netting here is more than fair.

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By Bettingzone.co.uk
Used with permission.