The United States fell 4-2 to the Czech Republic on Tuesday in their last friendly football match before coach Bob Bradley names the 23-man squad for the World Cup finals.
The Czechs took full advantage of defensive lapses by the Americans, who will host Turkey in a friendly on Saturday before the squad departs for South Africa. Maurice Edu in the 17th minute and Herculez Gomez in the 66th each got their first international goals as Bradley rested regulars including Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard and instead took a last look at some of the players hoping to make the World Cup roster he was to name on Wednesday.
After Edu opened the scoring, the Czech Republic equalized through Tomas Sivok a minute before halftime. Jan Polak made it 2-1 for the visitors in the 58th. Gomez but Martin Fenin in the 77th and Tomas Necid in injury time secured the win.
Meanwhile, former European champions Greece were held by fellow World Cup qualifiers North Korea 2-2 in a pre-World Cup friendly in Vienna. Greece took the lead in Altach, western Vorarlberg, after two minutes with a goal by Kostas Katsouranis, who vowed to cheer his debt-stricken country up with a good performance in South Africa at the finals.
But North Korea’s Japan-based striker Jong Tae-Se levelled the score after 24 minutes. Four minutes later, the North Korean Kawasaki Frontale striker brought the score level once more.
While, the Republic of Ireland beat Paraguay 2-1 in Dublin in a match where the South Americans lacked a cutting edge in front of goal. The Irish scored both their goals in the first-half through Kevin Doyle and Liam Lawrence while there was a goal on his debut for Paraguay’s Argentinian-born Lucas Barrios. — AFP