England v. USA 1-1 13/Jun/10

First Round, First Game, Group C, Day 2. (5 of 64)


A view that most Arsenal fans are acquainted with.
[Photo: Mirror Football]


Robert Green - probably England's most hated men at this very moment- entered in the infamous side of the history of the World Cup after making a clownish cameo worth of Lukasz Fabianski. Whether the fault of the equaliser may fall entirely in his hands, I do think that the whole team is to blame; the unexceptional qualities of their attacks and the lack of concentration from the English kept them at bay from what could have been a two-goal lead without much effort.

The Americans did hold back from time to time and showed that, without all the big names, they could find themselves in a position to contend only against lesser and weaker rivals. The ratings at Mirror Football were without a doubt the best among a myriad of offensive pieces throughout British tabloids.

Fortunately for the Americans they play Slovenia, who remain a complete doubt, in Johannesburg the following Friday while England will be keen to make amends in Cape Town later that day.



Green fabiansking the match.
[Photo: Getty Images via Soccernet]


Despite the abominable final outcome, the English did well enough to grab an early lead through the sole strike of captain Gerrard. The Liverpool midfielder found himself in a good position as Heskey set him between the two American centre-backs. The Liverpudlian finished with delight into Howard's opposite side. Notwithstanding the lurid joke of ITV the Americans got themselves into a horrid momentum. Certainly their defence was completely distracted and probably buzzed by the loathsome cry of the vuvuzelas.

Whilst England got the most of the situations of the first thirty five minutes, there was not a really dangerous effort from an individual play. Players like Milner or Lennon were frequently dispossessed. The advantage of the American team was by far granted due to the English mistakes. Onyewu headed wide in the 27th and Donovan's freekick were among the most dangerous situations just before James Milner got substituted due to an early injury problem.

Then in a pretty much naive play in the 40th minute, Dempsey shot a weak ball into Green's goal. The rest is history as he flapped the ball into his own net. One as viewer thinks of what was Rob Green thinking. Did the Jabulani made one of those famous strange bounces or was he not focused enough? The question barely needs any answer as he is the only one to blame. Giving goals in regular season is one thing but gifting a vital equaliser to the opposition in such a manner is hard as hell.



Terry demoralised.
[Photo: AFP/Jewel Samad via Le Monde]


Probably the terrible mistake hit the dressing room so hard that in the first minutes of the following half the Englishmen were completely lost. A reliable proof of that was the terrific run by Altidore who ousted the slow Carragher and shot on target; this time it was Green who prevented the young American striker from scoring.

Regardless the low morale due to the clanger, the English kept on trying. Probably this is a very spot on explanation regarding the effectiveness their attacks lacked. With the game reaching its final twenty minutes Rooney had two chances, one missed header and the other, a powerful shot that went just inches wide from Howard's goal.

The game for both team diluted into a classless match. The constant unsuccessful approaches from the Americans recouped with the ones by Gerrard made no decent match at all. Strangely the game ended with a dangerous cross from the unexistant Lennon, who nearly found Lampard alone.