When the group draw was first announced on December 9th of last year, Group E immediately stood out in terms of competitiveness.  But in a group with the Italians and their illustrious pedigree, the U.S.A., who were looking to build on their surprising 2002 quarter-final performance, and World Cup debutants Ghana (and we all know the African sides will never back down from anyone), the Czech Republic stood out as the class of the group.

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With Juventus playmaker Pavel Nedved allowed a more central role than he has with his club side, the Czechs stormed to number two in the FIFA World rankings, just behind Brazil.

The Czechs opened against the Americans, and played like a team, who perhaps, has been overlooked despite their high FIFA rank. 

When “experts” would give their lists of favorites, it would be Brazil, England, Argentina, Italy , possibly the Dutch , but never the Czechs.

But after giant forward Jan Koller headed in a cross after five minutes, you could tell it would be a special match.  Indeed it was, with Nedved and new Arsenal signing Tomas Rosicky being afforded too much space by the U.S. midfield, and being allowed to spray passes all over the pitch.  Rosicky scored a fantastic brace to cap a 3-0 dismantling of a team ranked fifth by FIFA.  It was a dominant performance, on both sides of the ball.

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Imagine, then, the disappointment of being ravaged by Ghana in the second group match.  The Czechs gave up a goal in the first minute, and never recovered.  Ghana’s midfield pair of Michael Essien and Stephen Appiah smothered Nedved and Rosicky, and the rest of the team look lost for inspiration.  The defense made some crucial mistakes (defender Tomas Ujfalus failing to make a clearance led to the first goal), and due to missing forwards Koller and Milan Baros through injury, the Czechs look to be short on goalscorers.

So now it comes down to the final group match versus Italy , and all four teams still have a decent shot to go through with victory.  The Czechs must pull out all the stops, and Nedved especially will be looking for a big game, as he is so familiar with the Italian style of play from playing in Turin.  Keeper Petr Cech will also have to put in a sterling performance for the Czech Republic to go through.