Match 5 | England vs. USA | June 12 | Post-Match Thread [R]

I personally wouldn't bet much of anything on the result between England and the US, much less my parents life. While England might be favored in any bet, the differences aren't really that much. The same way the differences between Algeria and the US aren't that great.

 

Thanks for the honest response.

I wouldn't argue with the fact that England are a team of great individual players who haven't played as a team, the only real weird thing is that it's only been at the World Cup, we had no such issues in the recent past(though it's fair to say that our expectation normally exceeds our achievements).

You're wrong about the keeper situation though, you don't have three keepers better than ours, Hart is world class, unfortunately though, that fact seems to have escaped Don Capello. I rate Dempsey and Donovan, though Gooch is largely untested at this level, he looks good, but still has a way to go to prove himself yet.

We don't have long to go find out which teams will progress and what will be will be, good luck anyway, as long as it's not at our expense(even if I pretend I don't care).

 

Might depend.

If penalties decided the outcome? USA.
If based on position-by-position talent and history? England
If based on who would perform better under that kind of pressure? A coin-toss.
If you extended this to a 10-match series, at this point I would not be surprised to see England to win six, two draws, and two USA victories. Perhaps three draws and a single USA victory.

If you were putting together a single team and could select from the US and England squads, how many US players would you select? To simplify, I'll answer under current circumstances, taking into account injuries on both sides. Three - Howard, Donovan, Dempsey.

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I still believe that England have the quality to reach the semi-finals. That said, their performances should have also instilled reasonable hope in Slovenia that a result is possible, if not likely. Holding England scoreless for 45-60 minutes might just break them through a combination of wilted confidence and frustration.

Likewise, USA should neither underestimate the difficulty of breaking down Algeria, or our own potential for an early, disastrous defensive lapse (the thought of USA being forced to break down Algeria to equalize makes me queasy). I don't see more than a single goal being scored in the USA/Algeria match, and frankly hope that USA don't score too early and then throw everyone behind the ball. I expect two tense, if not terribly entertaining matches.