US World Cup streaks

Central and Eastern European

The US plays Slovenia tomorrow (later today in South Africa).

The US record against Central and Eastern European teams in the WC (all last 20 years):

1990:    Czechoslovakia – US 5:1

1990:    Austria – US 2:1

1994:    Romania – US 1:0

1998:    Germany – US 2:0

1998:    Yugoslavia – US 1:0

2002:    Poland – US 3:1

2002:    Germany – US 1:0

2006:    Czech Republic – US 2:0

That is a 0:0:8 record.

Third game in World Cups

At least that US can recover in the third game of the group stage against Algeria.

Well, in third games:

1930:    Argentina – US 6:1 (Semi-Finals)

1950:    Chile – US 5:2

1990:    Austria – US 2:1

1994:    Romania – US 1:0

1998:    Yugoslavia – US 1:0

2002:    Poland – US 3:1

2006:    Ghana – US 2:1

That is a 0:0:7 record .

Selected teams

So how did the US do against a fairly impressive list of 4 WC holders, 4 other teams that made the Semi-Finals and 3 teams that are not "also run"? (The teams are Brazil (5WC), Italy (4WC), Argentina (2WC), England (1WC), Portugal (SF), Spain (SF), Belgium (SF), Chile (SF), Mexico (QF), Paraguay and Colombia)

The overall record is 6:2:6, excluding the WC winners the record is 5:0:2. If we also exclude "3^rd game", the record is a very impressive 5:0:1 (a 3:1 loss to Spain in 1950).

Can the US break these two nasty streaks?