I'd've taken the draw before the start of the game - the US are no mugs. But, we should have won. Green's save from Altidore should get his confidence back up. Both teams should make it out the group

To misquote Rio Ferdinand "Robert Green is a worthy successor to David James's mantlepiece".

@Xapi - I guess not, just below the exceptionally high standards he sets himself up to be judged at.

@DJE - It was acceptable, but England should have done better.

@sham - If he puts in another performance like that you could easily see him getting a big money transfer though can't you.

@ Figle: I guess I'm judging him by the standarts he set playing for Argentina :P

Kind of a disappointing result for the better team, the guys in blue. What was Capello thinking, starting Milner?

Yeah, that was definitely a mistake

Figles and TGM@
I thought Heskey was more efficient than Rooney.
"England went straight through them a couple of times"
In fact USA could have won if Green's bad attempt to block the ball wasn't salvaged by the post in the 2nd half.
I never expected that I would be the one supporting USA in here...

He looked like a corpse on the pitch. SWP, for all of his total inability to deliver a capable cross, at least took some advantage of Cherundolo giving approximately Ukraine-sized space whenever he was run at.

@Fig Well just because you play well in a few games doesn't mean that you are cut out for the big leagues, remember Liverpool buying Diouf after the 2002 World Cup?That said, a good goalie is hard to come by.

On a more cheerful note, today's rugby league international went a tad better.

England 60-6 France

Ha! France!

(well... yesterday... but who's counting)

(no... it was today... damned timezones!)

"Not to brag, but I think Argentina has left the most positive performance so far."
what a joke
that was probably the USA or South African performance
If you want to talk about Argentina talk about Messi
He's the whole team. Alone.

To be fair, none of the world cup performances so far have been all that impressive.

"In fact USA could have won if Green's bad attempt to block the ball wasn't salvaged by the post in the 2nd half."

Oh come on, that was a save, no two ways about it.

"Ooohh no, I hit the post", they say. No, you missed.


USA were, goalkeepers aside, the weaker team. The goalkeeping is what evened up an uneven contest.

@SS - Liverpool had already been tracking Diouf. I agree that just a couple of good performances aren't enough, especially for an outfield player where you must consider the type of the game. For example, Baros, Chevchenko and Forlan were all playing brilliantly when they came to the Prem, but the game just didn't suit them.

@Oct - I saw the score there, another 4 try-er as well. However, on the real mans game we got done over by the Aussies, which is never good :(

"the real mans game"

You mean cricket, figle?

"In fact USA could have won if Green's bad attempt to block the ball wasn't salvaged by the post in the 2nd half."
Soccer is not like basketball.
If you are the strongest team, you don't automatically expect to score more goals and win.
That's the beauty of it.
If a team is relatively weaker yet very well positioned and good in counter attacks then you can win a game counterattacking and that will be a fair result.
The stronger team has to do more than just passing around the ball.
Btw England didn't even have more ball possession than USA.
Just more shots (18-12) but those extra ones were aimed to some unlucky African birds flying over the stadium.

the pasted part was meant to be "USA were, goalkeepers aside, the weaker team. The goalkeeping is what evened up an uneven contest. "

""Not to brag, but I think Argentina has left the most positive performance so far."
what a joke
that was probably the USA or South African performance
If you want to talk about Argentina talk about Messi
He's the whole team. Alone. "

South Africa left holes in defence so big even Mexico was able to score against them.

I didn't see the full USA match, but I think drawing a game over a fumble by the opposition GK is hardly a great performance.

I can talk about Messi, sure. Messi-team has left the most positive performance so far.

But I also liked our goalkeeper's game, he was very safe taking down (or out) Nigeria's centers. And Mascherano was very important in the midfield. I don't think another argentinian player had an above standart performance, but it was enough to show more than the other 9 teams that played out there.

South Korea is still a question mark though, given the poor rate of their opposition :P

Yes, and the difference in the goalkeepers was really only that Green made one mistake. Green really had very little work to do all game.

"Just more shots (18-12) but those extra ones were aimed to some unlucky African birds flying over the stadium"

hehehe.

yeah. we could have won but the tie is a good result. USA!

Last post of mine was in response to hellalt

now i don;t want you Brits saying the US played poorly though. To lose by one goal would have still been closer than thought in my opinion. Our defense did alright. and Howard did great.

"USA were, goalkeepers aside, the weaker team. The goalkeeping is what evened up an uneven contest."

Ghost, last time I checked, goalies were part of the team. But I just started following soccer this world cup. I could be wrong on that.

Ok here is an argument that you just can't counter argue.
If England was really a great team then it would win 2-1 or 3-1 or 4-1 and then we wouldn't have to talk about goalkeeping, would we?
When you rely on just one goal you score within the initial minutes of the game then you deserve to get punished.

@xapi The Greek team played like shit. No, correction. They played like it wasn't soccer but some other imaginary game. Don't expect that to change. Bet all your money in Nigeria. That's what I'm going to do.

poor green

I also predicted 1-0 for England. Their early goal had me scared I might have underestimated England. I still think England is the one that should be disappointed with the tie considering it was an amateur mistake that cost them the goal. England was clearly the stronger team early on, though by the end of the game their performance was not as good.

Greece surprised me with it's terrible performance.

USA USA USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!