Group C: England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia

We learned from the best. England is one of the most arrogant little shit stains on a map in the history of the world

 

England started off brightly, but allowed the US to get back into the game. I'm no excuse maker, but I feel bad for green, sucks to be in his shoes right now, will get the blame if they don't advance to the next round.

 

At least we keep ours small.

 

Capello clarified on why he made some of the substitutions he made, not that they were bad....but they were interesting. I originally thought he took off Milner bc of the yellow card too.

Source

 

Alright US and England....time to be worried.....

Congrats Slovenia

 

Slovenia - Algeria: 1-0 FT

 

Good job by Slovenia, really boosts their chances to get to the next round. I can't see both England and USA getting to the last 16 at this rate. Game on.

 

Slovenia-Algeria was an ugly game. Algeria really looked like they were going to score for awhile and were just dominating once Ghezzal came in, then he gets 2 stupid yellows in like 15 minutes. Just stupid, but once again another goalie in group C chokes hard. These teams weren't anything special that's for sure, and I don't think either will beat England. So USA-Slovenia Friday should be the game that decides 2nd for this group. If USA can get a win against Slovenia, they should advance but if they get a tie or loss, then they're in trouble.

 

Slovenia did not play to my expectations, but they still managed to keep a clean sheet and pick up an ugly win. They played too cautiously, which might work well against England, but against teams like Algeria and the United States they need to push their strikers forward since there are more opportunities. I also want to see Rene Krhin as a substitute against the United States. He's an untested talent in the Internazionale youth system and could rattle the United States since he won't feel as much pressure as if he were to come up against the likes of England. The Slovenian vets on the other hand will have no fears against either side. This will be an interesting group.

 

USA v. England was very interesting to watch. I spent 90 minutes waiting for the all-might Wayne Rooney to do something other than scowl, but it didn't happen. The US goal was pretty bad, but the way England played through the first 80 when the US were doing something other than bunker down and defend, they didn't deserve the win. How a so-called legit contender in the World Cup can not completely dominate the middle of the park against an irrelevant Ricardo Clark and an over-worked Michael Bradley is beyond me. England's wingers had a field day as Dempsey and Donovan spent most of the day in the middle, rather than doing even minimal defending on the wings. However, they just weren't dangerous when they got into their spots. If Robbie Findley didn't forget that he can walk faster than Carragher runs, he would have been in on Green at will.

I'm not going to say that England won't make it out of the group, as I don't think Rooney will repeat that poor performance again, but I don't see them lasting far beyond the round of 16. As for the US, I'll still bet on them making it out, despite the Slovenia win. I'm hoping to see Jose Torres paired with Bradley and Gomez getting minutes in the next two matches. They'll be a lot more dangerous with Torres controlling the tempo and I think he'll prove himself as the heir to Claudio Reyna that we've been waiting for since 2002 (I know he played in 2006, but he was too old to be relevant).

 

I was hoping to see Torres and Gomez also, I don't understand why Findley starts just because of his speed. He has done very little with his speed and he's still in the MLS with his speed for a reason. Also when Gomez and Torres played during the 3 warm-up matches, U.S. looked much better and more of a threat offensively with Torres being a creative distributor and Gomez a fantastic finisher.

 

Players with speed are used more-so for the fact that defenders have to work harder to chase them down and in turn weakens them as the match wears on. Altidore was there as the finisher, even though he didn't get the job done.

 

But as Agoo said, he didn't barely use that speed and was a non-factor for the most part if you ask me. Even in the warm-up matches, I can't remember a time, besides against maybe the Aussies, that he used that speed. There was a reason he was on the brink of missing the team in the first place. I don't understand how you go from off the roster to starter.

 

That's true, he didn't make enough runs forward. Honestly I was also surprised he started, especially after the performance Buddle gave against the Aussies. I think Bradley should be alone in the holding midfield position and find a way to play JF Torres. He played well in Mexico, has an excellent touch and a great future for the national team.

 

Why the hell didn't Capello bring Walcott? He may be the same sort of player as Lennon and Wright-Phillips but he seems to actually use his pace to open up the defense. Oh well.

 

I heard there was a flu bug going around the English team. Luckily, Rob Green didn't catch it.​

 

USA! USA! USA!

 

They're going to lose.

 

USA has to win if they have any chance of advancing.

Cannot take Slovenia lightly though, they're a tough team to beat.