OK, well, that wasn't exactly the way the US wanted to start its World Cup campaign. Losing is bad enough, but the -3 goal differential just adds insult to injury. Looking more like we'll need to knock off both Italy and Ghana to get through. Which is doable, I suppose, though it'll require better play than what we saw today. Now if only Claudio Reyna didn't hit that post...

And looking at my own picks, I see that I made some typos. Every time you see the word "Italy," replace it with "Czech Republic." It's what I meant. Really.

Picking Japan to advance over Australia also looks a little fraught now, given how the Socceroos stormed back to take their game over Japan. Socceroos just may be my favorite team nickname in the entire tournament.