Completely agree with your breakdown...however to counter I'd point out that the correct play probably would have been to roll it out to Lewis in space instead of seeing how far you could kick that ball you hate so much.
we have a winner!!! i'm not sure i even understand the point of this thread. were others at fault as well? absolutely. does keller bear any fault for the first goal? he kept the ball in play (instead of letting it roll out of bounds), picked it up (thus starting his 6 seconds rather than just keeping it in front of him on the ground), he rushed to start a counter (which doesn't appear to have been on and which left us exposed to a counter-counter), and then he punted it straight to the other team. and, although i'm less convinced, others have questioned his not challenging the cross. although the punt itself has been mentioned, it shouldn't be glossed over. sure, some great goalies have occasionally mis-kicked the ball. it happens. but that doesn't mean that it isn't a mistake. this isn't u-whatever where the goalie just punts it as far as he can. and, especially when its part of a quick kick, it needs to be directed at the desired teammate. again, this isn't to say that there weren't a whole host of other problems with this goal, most of which have already been mentioned but, yes, keller gets some of the blame and has acknowledged it. can't we now bring this to an end and move on to saturday?
The point I was asking to BS: Arena clearly singled out Keller based on the quote in the first post for the main reason the goal was created. I felt that was a litle unfair as it seems to be Lewis was really the main reason the goal was created. Were there other contributing factors yes, but to single out Keller, and not even mention Lewis, I thought was a little unfair. And as I asked above, wondering if Arena would actually have a different view on the first goal after watching the tape - he confirmed a more defensive shape breakdown that led to the first goal this during his pre-Italy conference podcast today. That means his initial reaction of the goal(and the calling out of Keller) during the Czech post game conference was a hasty comment as he was probably still reeling from the loss. But I agree, let's just let this die and go kick Italy's arse.
The impression that I got from the blow-by-blow account was that it was a confluence of Lewis being in the wrong place, the U.S. being in an unusual shape due to hangover from defending the set piece, the Czechs being in an unusual shape due to hangover from attacking the set piece, and Keller putting the ball into play before things had settled down yet. In fairness to Kasey, though, it might have made some sense to do so, with the hope of catching the Czechs out of shape. If Grygera was already in an advanced position, it may be that Keller was trying to attack into space behind him.