Green error hands yanks a point – England 1-1 USA.
Posted on June 13th, 2010 | 148 Comments |
The match stats will suggest that England had more shots, more corners, more possesion and a higher passing accuracy, but that also doesn’t really tell the whole story. All I need to do is utter two words – Robert Green. His failure to get the basics of goalkeeping right ultimately cost his country the win. Going into the tournament there had been plenty of discussion regarding who should get the nod between the sticks. It turns out that Rob Green got his chance to shine on the world stage last night, and that howler against the USA will ensure the debate continues as to who should be our goalkeeper.
Laying all of the blame at the door of Green would be unfair on him, the England team and the USA team though. Despite the error, we mustn’t forget that it was the England team who were unable to get back in control of the match, and of course we mustn’t forget the part that the USA played in the game as they restricted the English play superbly and could have possibly won the match themselves.
England got off to a flyer and went a goal up through Steven Gerrard inside the first five minutes, his deft flick past Tim Howard was a superb end to some fine build-up play. 1-0 England. You would think that going a goal up so early on would inspire the England side and perhaps get them a bit fired up, apparently not, and it was the USA who took the bull by the horns by going close through Altidore, Onyewu and Donovan.
Then, five minutes before half-time, disaster. Clint Dempsey unleashed a tame 25-yard shot that looked in no danger of finding the net, until Rob Green got involved and spilled the ball leaving an entire nation watching in agony as the ball trickled over the line. 1-1.
There were chances for both sides in the second half, and Rob Green turned into a hero when he turned a shot from the USA on to the post. Ultimately, despite some good work from both sides, the game ended in a draw. Whilst the manner of the equaliser can be cited as the reason England didn’t win, it still shouldn’t take away the fact that a draw was probably the right result on the night.
It now looks like the outcome of the group will come down to how both the USA and England fare against Algeria and Slovenia, and England will need to pull their finger out and get some goals in the bag of they are to avoid a much trickier route of progression through the tournament.
So I guess it’s a case of good luck to the USA from now on, although not too much good luck! On the other side, England need to sort themselves out.
England: Green, Johnson, Terry, King, A Cole, Lennon, Lampard, Gerrard, Milner, Heskey, Rooney.
Subs: James, Barry, Carragher, Carrick, Joe Cole, Crouch, Dawson, Defoe, Upson, Warnock, Wright-Phillips, Hart.
USA: Howard, Cherundolo, DeMerit, Onyewu, Bocanegra, Dempsey, Bradley, Clark, Donovan, Findley, Altidore.
Subs: Guzan, Beasley, Bornstein, Buddle, Edu, Feilhaber, Gomez, Goodson, Holden, Spector, Torres, Hahnemann.
NUFCBlog Author: toonsy
toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.
Ah well, onwards and upwards. Well played USA. Green, what a howler. Great goal for us, well worked.
Now off to Tesco :)