Plan B

There's a big difference between expecting to win and saying you can play with anyone.

There were many scenarios the casual or most ardent U.S. soccer fans/apologists table-topped for the opening match against the Czech Republic, but few saw this result as a likely scenario, including yours truly.

Four years ago, I was watching the U.S. take on Portugal in its 2002 World Cup opener from a vast but bustling media center in Kashima Stadium in Saitama, Japan. I felt like the only American in the stadium -- certainly the only one in the media center -- who cared about the match, and my sentiment then was the same as now, the U.S. can play with anyone. And it proved it en route to the last eight.

The U.S. expected to win and take three points in its 2006 World Cup opener against the Czech Republic.

That's the difference from four years ago, what newfound respect and upward mobility can do to expectation levels.

The bar has been raised to dizzying heights; expectations are very high; and you could even hear pre-World Cup talk, OK maybe more like whispers, of the U.S. winning the group. Why not? Stranger things have happened.

Was the U.S. scared? No. Was it intimidated? Of course not!

However, make no mistake the U.S. came out against the Czech Republic seemingly uninspired and unmotivated playing in the world's greatest event.

What was missing? Emotion, energy and the requisite sense of urgency to be an elite World Cup team and they paid a costly price.

I hardly recognized the team we've come to expect so much from. Landon didn't play like "L.D."; "Beaz" played like DaMarcus; and "Gooch" played like Oguchi.

Where was the passion, aggression and willingness to play and attack because they can? Because they got pure joy breaking ankles -- as the kids say -- and embarrassing defenders with skill, speed and athleticism all coupled with a joy for the game.

Give credit to the Czechs, who certainly affirmed their status as a tournament favorite and didn't take the U.S. lightly, underscoring how far the U.S. has come in 16 years.

But there was not a single one-two, takeover, any sort of combination play, overlap, backheel or anything that led anyone to believe the U.S. was ascending to a new level right before our eyes.

One thing I know for sure, there hasn't been enough respect given to the 2002 U.S. World Cup team. Making the quarterfinals in Korea/Japan has been taken for granted and casually mentioned as if this was a birthright.

Winning the first game four years ago no doubt was the perfect catalyst for the magical run to the quarterfinals. However, the final two games of that group were not exactly to blueprint and, after a bit of luck, the Americans worked themselves into the round of 16, and the rest is history.

If I had asked you before this year's tournament began what would you prefer and what would be more significant to U.S. soccer's status in sports-heavy America: a win over the Czech Republic or a win over a three-time World Cup winner and traditional power such as Italy?

You would've taken Italy.

This is the real test of how far U.S. soccer has come. How do you know how tough you are until you've been punched in the mouth? I think of the Dwyane Wade commercial, the one that goes, "fall seven times and get back up eight."

I don't believe this is a repeat of the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, where the U.S. hockey team lost its title defense opener and failed to qualify for the medal round and the 1980 Miracle on Ice officially was etched in lore as one of the greatest sports anomalies ever.

Or is it?

"L.D.," "Beaz," "Gooch" and the entire U.S. team will not give up on themselves, you can bet on that. Nor should the casual or most ardent soccer fans/apologists mentioned above, so let's stop pretending they're going to give up and the tournament is over, because it's not. At least not yet.

The one thing we'll learn for sure at the end of the World Cup is that the U.S. has come a long way or that the 2002 team was something special and a watershed moment. Both very well could be the case.

Allen Hopkins covers the FIFA World Cup for ESPN and ESPN.com and is also an analyst for the Los Angeles Galaxy. He can be reached at hopkinsplus10@gmail.com.