England and USA have reached the knock out stage of World Cup football 2010. While England defeated Slovenia 1-0, USA clinched full points against Algeria winning by the same margin. Though both sides are level on 5 points, USA finished as Group C champion for scoring more goals than England in 3 matches.
However, England fans would not mind as they are just happy to know that England’s World Cup campaign has not finished yet. Knowing that it was a must-win affair, England started attacking from the very beginning. Milner, Upson and Defoe, in stead of Heskey, started for England tonight. Joe Cole was brought on as a second half substitute.
England got the winning goal through Defoe in the 23rd minute of the game. However, England could have won the match by a bigger margin if Rooney, Gerrard and Lampard did not miss a number of scoring opportunities. In the second half, Rooney’s close range shot hit the side post. Slovenia defense was solid, specially goalkeeper Samir Handanovic.
USA’s victory came through a Landon Donovan strike in the injury time which dramatically ended Slovenia’s dream. Had USA drawn with Algeria, Slovenia would have accompanied England to the next round.
No one could deny that Algeria and Slovenia have given some scary moments to England and USA in Group C, even though they have been eliminated from the tournament. England, though considered as one of the favorites, failed to meet the expectation in the group stage, while USA’s performance was pretty much satisfactory.
Its about time USA earned a victory and the score sheet reflected it. Two negated goals later (in this game and the last), we are moving on.
ReplyDeleteI could not be any more proud of our team.