World beaters?

HAMBURG -- Four years ago, what coach Bruce Arena needed most was an air pump. The US men's soccer team had ended up a flattened souffle in 1998, finishing 32d out of 32 teams at the World Cup. Eleven players from that French flopperoo were still around and it was his job to reinflate them.

``It wasn't a real confident group," says Arena, who took over in October of that year. ``There was some scar tissue from 1998. Getting them to believe they could win was a challenge."

Getting to the quarterfinals in 2002, their best showing in 72 years, provided the Americans with a huge ego boost that's stayed with them since. ``This time, they know they can go out on any given day and beat anybody," Arena says. ``Because they've done it."

Though Uncle Sam's resurgent nephews no longer are 300-1 space shots (London oddsmakers have them at 80-1), nobody's mentioning them as favorites this time. ``Obviously our stock has risen," says Arena. ``However, we're still on the outside looking in."

The US team undoubtedly has a rough road here, grouped with the Czech Republic (its opponent Monday in Gelsenkirchen), three-time champion Italy, and dangerous debutante Ghana. ``We feel we have a lot to prove," says captain Claudio Reyna. ``I think we accept that."

Even though the Americans are making their fifth straight Cup appearance, the global heavyweights don't yet consider them peers. ``They still feel that they're better," says goalkeeper Kasey Keller. ``It's hard to argue with the Italians or the English or the Dutch until you actually take it to that next level and consistently get to semifinals."

Among the planet's elite, the results of the last Cup in Korea and Japan were dismissed as an Asian aberration, possibly because many of them -- notably defending champion France, Argentina, Portugal, and Italy -- stumbled. But the Yanks have the tapes to prove what they accomplished there. They shocked the Portuguese, who were fancied to be among the final four. They were the only side in their group to take a point from the Koreans. And they lost to the Germans, 1-0, after a blatant hand ball on the goal line went uncalled. ``People will say it's a fluke, but I watched the Germany game and we destroyed them," says midfielder Landon Donovan. ``It wasn't even close. They didn't get out of their half. That was eye-opening. We were a lot better than the team that finished second. That has to be inspiring."

This US team clearly is better than the last one, more seasoned, more balanced, deeper. ``The team has grown," observes Arena, who says he has a much better sense of what makes a Cup player.

The mix of forwards -- Brian McBride, Eddie Johnson, Brian Ching, and Josh Wolff -- allows for more mixing and matching of speed and finishing. The defense, with Eddie Pope's savvy and Oguchi Onyewu's muscle, is more stable. The goalkeeping corps, with three European-based players in Keller, Tim Howard, and Marcus Hahnemann , may be the best trio in the tournament.

The question mark is in the midfield, where two of the linchpins from last time, Reyna and John O'Brien, may not be able to go 90 minutes three times in a row. O'Brien, who played every minute of every match in 2002, still is rounding into form after a series of leg problems made a hash of the past quadrennium. Reyna, a first-team tournament all-star four years ago, tweaked a hamstring last month after bouncing back from a broken ankle and a shoulder injury that busted up his season with Manchester City.

If both of them can go the distance alongside Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley, the Americans could advance out of their group for the third time in four Cups, especially if they spindle the Czechs in the opener. ``In 1994, we were kind of an unknown," says Reyna, who made his first squad that year. ``We weren't really taken seriously. Before, it was just earning respect and holding our own. Now, the questions are more about getting out of the group and how well we can do and beating great nations. Our aim is to cause a stir again."

Reyna and his mates roiled the waters last time, when they hung around for two rounds longer than they'd been predicted to. ``A lot of Europeans think 2002 was a lot of luck," says Onyewu, who plays for Standard de Liege in Belgium.

This time, the Yanks will have to prove it on the Continent, where they haven't won a Cup match since 1934. This time, they're up against two teams they've never beaten in the Czechs (who humbled them, 5-1, in 1990 in their only meeting) and the Italians (0-3-2). ``This is potentially a better team," muses Arena. ``The unfair part is that the results might not show it."

While it's quite possible the US team will be finished after two games, it's also possible it can go through. The Czechs may be ranked second in the world, but they had to win a playoff with Norway to qualify, they've been struggling with injuries, and they have nobody who's ever played in a Cup. The Italians, who may be distracted by the massive match-fixing scandal back home, have been unimpressive in tuneup draws with the Ukrainians and Swiss.

What'll be different this time is than none of the Americans' opponents will take them lightly. ``We won't be overlooked at all," realizes Keller, who regained the starting job after watching Brad Friedel from the bench last time. ``The football population will definitely not underestimate us in this World Cup, which is a little bit of a disadvantage from where we were. I would have loved to have been in this group in 2002 and had the Italians and the Czechs and the rest of the world just say, `OK, those are the two teams who are going through.' But that's not the case this time around. It would be no surprise whatsoever for us to come through."

Coming through, though, might not be enough. Unless the US team wins its group, it'll likely face five-time champion Brazil just as it did in 1994, when the Americans went out respectably, if passively, with a 1-0 defeat. Nobody in Europe or anywhere else thinks they're a match for Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Robinho and the rest, which is why Arena's team figures it has nothing to lose.

If the Americans make the final eight again (with their efforts broadcast during waking hours in the States this time), they'll be heralded as the Boys of Summer, an uplifting diversion amid what's been a bad-news year back home. If they're one and done, they can fly to Newark and nobody will bother them at baggage claim. Not a bad position to play from.

``There's no pressure, man, this is fun," says Donovan. ``You're playing in a World Cup. How many people ever get to say they did that?"

CORNER KICKS Check out our World Cup blog at www.boston.com/sports/soccer for updates from John Powers and Frank Dell'Apa in Germany.