Green goalie mistake gives USA 1-1 draw with England in World Cup

By Kenneth Tan/Red Sports

Match Review
All eyes were on a rejuvenated England, under the stewardship of Fabio Capello, to see if they could kick off their World Cup campaign with a bang. The answer was unfortunately a no as they were held to a 1-1 draw by the United States.

England stormed to a perfect start within four minutes. Emile Heskey held off his marker before picking out captain Steven Gerrard inside the box. The latter wasted no time in slotting a neat side-foot finish inside the bottom right corner of the goal, sending the England fans into delirium.

USA began to wake up after the goal with Jozy Altidore and Oguchi Onyewu heading wide respectively. Star man Landon Donovan also fired an effort wide of goal.

England made an earlier change in putting on Shaun Wright-Phillips for debutant James Milner and the former also fired a shot wide of goal.

It appeared all smooth sailing for England until they were hit by an absolute sucker punch from USA. Fulham winger Clint Dempsey turned well on the edge of the box before shooting straight towards England goalkeeper Robert Green. Green looked to have the ball covered before it all went horribly wrong. He let the ball out of his grasp and into his own goal, which proved a costly mistake.

If that happened in any Sunday league football game, it would have been easily forgotten. However, this being their first match at the World Cup Finals, it meant his howler was magnified around the world.

Although England had the better of the opportunities in the second half, they failed to capitalise. Emile Heskey had a one-on-one opportunity but his effort was saved by USA keeper Tim Howard, while star forward Wayne Rooney headed an effort wide and had a long range attempt swerve away from the right hand post.

Their best opportunity came on the 83rd minute when they launched a counter attack with four forwards outnumbering USA’s two defenders, but Frank Lampard could not finish off his shot.

Despite throwing on Peter Crouch for the last 12 minutes, they failed to break down the resolute USA defence led by ex-Newcastle United centre back Oguchi Onyewu. Instead it was the USA who came the closest to breaking the deadline in the second half.

On 64 minutes, Jozy Altidore outmuscled Jamie Carragher on left flank before cutting inside the box to shoot but his effort was well tipped onto the post by Green.

The result meant England and USA topped the standing with a point each with Slovenia and Algeria playing this evening. The next group C fixtures will see England take on Algeria while USA take on Slovenia.

Next, our Group C pundits, Khairul Azmi of Meridian Junior College and Cheah Wen Bin of Serangoon Junior College provide us their post-match opinions. Both of them predicted 2-1 scorelines in favour of England.

Khairul Says:
An interesting game that finished 1-1 and England will rue their many missed chances in the game. Not the worst result possible for either teams, the Americans will no doubt be the happier team. The game will no doubt be remembered for the huge mistake by England goalkeeper Robert Green that gave USA their equalizer. That moment changed the game on its head, especially since England looked to be in control of the game up to that point.

One of my players to watch for, Ledley King, was substituted at half time. To me he did not play that badly in the first half but probably gave way to Jamie Carragher to help combat the speed of the American attackers.

England captain Steven Gerrard had an outstanding game for England. Doing both his offensive and defensive duties extremely well, he scored for England early on after good build-up play from his teammates. Being a real box-to-box midfielder, he really led his players by example with a solid performance.

Another player that I pointed out before the game, Clint Dempsey, also got on the score sheet for this match. A fortuitous goal it may have been, but give credit to Dempsey for at least trying a shot from where he did. Not one of the most spectacular goals you will see, but every goal counts.

I feel that Landon Donovan also had a lively game for the USA. Constantly drifting in from the wings, he created a few problems for England’s defense in the first half, and was unlucky not to get a goal himself.

Tim Howard also had a solid game for the USA between the post. Almost getting a hand to the first goal, he made numerous saves for the Americans to keep them in the game. A brave dive for the ball in front of a lunging Emile Heskey showed his importance to the Americans. Despite staying down for a few minutes after that challenge, he picked himself up and made a few important saves to keep his team in the match.

Man of the Match: Oguchi Onyewu
A pillar in the USA defense throughout the match, he dealt with the England attackers admirably. Cutting out most balls that came into his penalty area, Onyewu played an important part in getting this result for the USA.

Wen Bin Says:
England had one of their worst games today. Everyone played below their potential. Rooney had an average performance, Lampard and Gerrard also did not play anywhere near their potential. The only meaningful contribution Lampard had was the bullet shot from outside the box in the second half.

The few key moments in the game were the many near misses by England players.The misses by Heskey, Shaun Wright Philips and Glen Johnson show what a bad day England had. All their shots were directed straight at Howard who had no problems dealing with them.

Man of the Match: Glen Johnson
Despite England’s dismal performance, the full back was a constant threat on the right flank. His aggressive running and dribbling proved too much for USA to deal with. However his crosses into the box were either not converted by his forwards or were saved by Tim Howard.

More Reports and Reactions
Reactions to Robert Green’s howler
Dempsey thankful for Green’s howler
Pictures of the match
Video highlights of the match

GROUP C	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
USA	3	1	2	0	4	3	+1	5
ENGLAND	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1	5
SLOVENIA	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
ALGERIA	3	0	1	2	0	2	-2	1

For the World Cup fixtures list with Singapore broadcast timings as well as group tables and the list of CCs with free screenings, go to: http://redsports.sg/2010-world-cup-fixtures-groups/

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