It’s the 33rd minute of the Czech Republic against Ghana match, and the Africans are deservedly one nil in the lead. There’s alot of time to go in the match, but this bodes well so far for the US. Note that we’re still waiting to see a shock upset in this World Cup. Could this be the day?

Of course, 3pm ET this afternoon is the biggest US match in years when they play the mighty Italians. This will be a defining moment for US soccer, and we’ll get to see what the US team is made of. Watch the EPL Talk Blog later as I’ll be adding pictures of US fans either celebrating or drowning their sorrows in a local British pub.

During the EPL Talk Podcast interview with Nick Geber (to be released tomorrow, June 18th), I asked Nick what type of impact will America experience if the US gets knocked out of the first round. Listen to this answer, and several other interesting topics tomorrow on the EPL Talk Podcast.

Thinking back to this past Monday’s US loss against Czech Republic, it’s sad but the result was probably the best thing that could have happened in terms of the ESPN/ABC coverage of the World Cup. From that point on, the ESPN/ABC crew has been improving its coverage, making fewer mistakes and not hyping the US as much, but instead giving a real-world analysis of this team that has so much promise, but has been unable to show that where it matters, on the pitch.