2006年VOA标准英语-USA Shut Out in World Cup Opener by Czechs

By Parke Brewer¹
Gelsenkirchen, Germany
12 June 2006

 
Czech Republic's Jaroslav Plasil (l) fights for the ball with U.S. team's Eddie Pope 
  
The U.S. Soccer team got off to a rocky start in the 2006 World Cup in Germany, losing to the Czech Republic, 3-0. VOA Sports Editor Parke Brewer was at the match in Gelsenkirchen Monday night and has the story.

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Very little went right for the U.S. team from the outset of the match against the Czech Republic. Defender² Oguchi Onyewu was given a yellow card for a foul³ in the fourth minute, and barely one minute later the Czechs had a 1-0 lead on a perfectly⁴ placed crossing pass that Jan Koller headed in the net.

Tomas Rosicky added goals in the 36th and 76th minutes, one on a powerful shot from several meters outside the box and another on a chip shot over the head of U.S. goalie Kasey Keller after he sped past the defense⁵.
 
 
Bruce Arena⁶
  
U.S. coach Bruce Arena said he was not pleased with his team's effort.

"Certainly a very poor start to the game," said Bruce Arena. "And to put yourself down a goal in the first five minutes of the game against a team of the quality of the Czech Republic that actually defends quite well. At that point we're very comfortable in sitting back and absorbing any kind of pressure and countering us. We were really behind the eight ball [having to play catch up] from the start, so I'm very disappointed in our start. I'm very disappointed in the performance of a number of our players over 90 minutes."

The best chance the U.S. team had to score came in the 28th minute when a shot by captain Claudia Reyna bounced out after hitting the inside of the left post.

In the 3-0 victory, the Czechs saw their star forward, Jan Koller, go down with a leg muscle injury just before the half and he left the game.

Because of that, Czech coach Karel Brucker, was a bit subdued⁷ after the win.

"It's obviously a very nice feeling to have won the first match," said Karel Brucker. "However, we are going to suppress our over-satisfaction because there are two tough matches ahead of us, and we also suffered heavy losses, so to say."

After the 3-0 Group E win over the USA, the Czech Republic will face Ghana Saturday (in Cologne) and the United States will take on Italy (in Kaiserslautern).

1 brewer   

n. 啤酒制造者

参考例句：

• Brewer is a very interesting man. 布鲁尔是一个很有趣的人。
• I decided to quit my job to become a brewer. 我决定辞职，做一名酿酒人。

2 defender   

n.保卫者，拥护者，辩护人

参考例句：

• He shouldered off a defender and shot at goal.他用肩膀挡开防守队员，然后射门。
• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。

3 foul   

adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规

参考例句：

• Take off those foul clothes and let me wash them.脱下那些脏衣服让我洗一洗。
• What a foul day it is!多么恶劣的天气！

4 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

5 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

6 arena   

n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台

参考例句：

• She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
• He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。

7 subdued   

adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He seemed a bit subdued to me. 我觉得他当时有点闷闷不乐。
• I felt strangely subdued when it was all over. 一切都结束的时候，我却有一种奇怪的压抑感。