GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany — U.S. national team coach Bruce Arena is a no-nonsense guy.

That helps him keep a level head after a disappointing performance like he witnessed yesterday when the Czech Republic ripped the United States, 3-0, in its World Cup opener.

But it also means he doesn't sugar-coat how he feels.

"We showed no aggressiveness tonight," Arena said. "Landon (Donovan) showed no aggressiveness tonight. I thought Eddie Johnson and Josh Wolff were OK when they came in. We got nothing out of (DaMarcus) Beasley on the night.

"I thought Claudio (Reyna) had a good game, Gooch (Oguchi Onyewu) did fine and (Bobby) Convey was all right, but after that we didn't get too many good performances and that's why we lost tonight."

Hawai'i's Brian Ching, meanwhile, didn't play.

Four years ago, the United States was aggressive early in its World Cup opener, scored an early goal against Portugal and went on to a 3-2 victory. Yesterday, the Czech Republic took the initiative.

Early on, the U.S. defenders played rough with 6-foot-7 Czech forward Jan Koller. But he made them pay as he beat Eddie Pope to Zdenek Grygera's cross from the right corner and headed the ball past U.S. goalkeeper Kasey Keller.

Arena blamed Keller for the goal, saying "for whatever reason" Keller cleared the ball into open space. The Czech Republic's quick counter attack resulted in a goal that shook up the U.S. team.

"I think in the first five minutes, we didn't start off right," said U.S. captain Claudio Reyna. "They got an early goal and unnerved us a bit."

Reyna had a chance to calm the nerves in the 28th minute, but his shot from 20 yards out hit the right post.

Eight minutes later, Tomas Rosicky did what Reyna couldn't. Rosicky's curling blast from 30 yards hit the right side netting despite the best effort of Keller.

"The coaches tell us to shoot as much as possible," Rosicky said, "because once the ball is in the air, there's a chance that it will go in the goal."

Trailing 2-0, Arena was forced to change tactics. Instead of Ching, Johnson and John O'Brien were inserted into the lineup at the start of the second half to try and kick-start the offense.

"We go down two goals and we're chasing the game and to chase the game against a team of that quality is very difficult," Arena said.

Despite the halftime deficit, the United States didn't create any solid chances. The hopes of a comeback evaporated when Rosicky split the U.S. defense on a penetrating run after a nice pass from Pavel Nedved, and Rosicky beat Keller in a one-on-one opportunity.

"You can't be hesitant," Reyna said, "you have to be aggressive (and) for the first minute and at all times, all over the field, we were a bit hesitant."

With three-time champion Italy looming on Saturday, the U.S. team can't afford another effort like yesterday. The talk from the locker room was on what's ahead, not what happened against the Czechs.

"The team wants to focus on the next game," said forward Brian McBride. "I still think that everything is possible."

The United States' goal from the outset was to advance to the round of 16. That means finishing in one of the top two spots in Group E, and those chances took a hit yesterday.

Still, Arena's harsh tone softened when asked about playing Italy.

"I think they'll respond well on Saturday," Arena said. "We have to play better. We have to get a better performance out of a number of individuals, and that'll be the challenge. That's a great challenge."