by Philip Cramer
Group C: USA, England, Slovenia, Algeria.
Sixty years ago England played the U.S. in the World Cup in Brazil. American soccer at the time barely had a pulse, while England was considered the best in the world, matched only by the host nation. We all know what happened then; the U.S. shocked the world winning 1-0. When news first filtered back to England everyone assumed it was a misprint and that England had won 10-1.
They meet again in the opening game of the group. If the U.S. beat England this time it will still be considered an upset, but nothing compared to the epic of 1950.
Either way, England and the U.S. are clear favorites to advance with the luck of the draw putting two soft opponents, Algeria and Slovenia in their group.
Despite the loss of Rio Ferdinand, England is the class of this group despite some weaknesses. David James, the first string goalie is nicknamed ‘Calamity James’ for good reason. Ashley Cole and John Terry will hold the defense together. Beyond them, Glen Johnson and Ledley King are more than adequate but could find problems in later rounds. In midfield only Gareth Barry has strong defensive credentials but it is moving forward that they are strongest with Lampard, Gerrard and Joe Cole capable of dominating any team. In reserve they have Aaron Lennon and James Milner who can more than hold their own. Up front, Rooney has matured into one of the best in the world. He works hard, is happy to fall back to help and can create goals out of nothing. Jermain Defoe will, in all likelihood partner him up front but I am still mystified as to why Capello excluded Theo Walcott who has incredible speed and is a gamechanger as we saw when he brought Arsenal back from the brink against Barcelona in the Champion’s League. I’ve always considered Peter Crouch to be out of his depth against the best in the world and Darren Bent might have been a better choice than the old warhorse Emile Heskey,
Capello has brought about renewed confidence, and while England will sail through the group they will do their usual swoon in the later rounds. The cooler weather will suit their frenetic style of play.
The U.S. should advance no matter what happens in the England game. They have an excellent goalkeeping squad who all play in the Premier League and as a group are better than the English trio. Their backline is a little sketchy with Onyewu the only standout at this level. Jonathan Spector is suspect while DeMerit, Cherundolo and the others will have their work cut out in keeping Rooney quiet. At midfield Landon Donovan is world class while Clint Dempsey has considerable experience in the Premier League. Michael Bradley has shown maturity beyond his years and his strength and tenacity will prove useful in helping out the defense. Francisco Torres will contribute for years to come and DaMarcus Beasly has the experience if not the recent form.
Up front Altidore has immense talent but will be tested at this level. Edson Buddle has been stellar for the Galaxy this year and scored twice against Australia over the weekend. He too, will be called on to play at a higher level than ever before.
As a team, fitness, strength and discipline are assets and coach Bob Bradley has proved he is more than capable. They will need to be at their best and might need a bit of luck but beating or drawing with England will not be much of a surprise.
Algeria has a tough road ahead of them. One of their best defenders, Nadir Belhadj is suspended for the opening game. The goalkeeper who led them to victory over Egypt, Faouzi Chaouchi is suspended for the first two games. Mourad Meghni, a gifted midfielder, nicknamed Le Petit Zidane is out of the WC with a knee injury and Majid Bougherra, a defender who plays for Scottish champion, Glasgow Rangers, is struggling to get fit in time. Many of their players play in Europe but for lesser teams, and while that experience might help them they will be lucky to get a point out of their encounters with either England or the U.S.
Spare a thought for Algeria who were cheated out of advancing in 1982. They opened with a shock 2-1 win against West Germany and beat Chile 3-2 in the third game in the group. The last game matched West Germany and Austria and the only scenario that would keep Algeria from advancing was a 1-0 German win by one or two goals. West Germany attacked and 10 minutes into the game scored and that was the end of the contest as the two German speaking teams passed the ball around with no attempts to score for the next 80 minutes. Angry Algerian fans waved banknotes and even the German fans booed. The game resulted in FIFA changing the format so that the final group games are played simultaneously to prevent any possibility of collusion. Algeria has never made it past the first round.
Slovenia, the country with the smallest population of any of the finalists finished second in their group thanks to a stingy defense that gave up just four goals in ten games. The surprising failure of the far higher ranked Czech team allowed them to finish second to meet Russia in a two leg playoff. Russia took a 2-0 lead at home as expected but Slovenia pulled one back in the last minute. In the return leg, Slovenia held on for a 1-0 win and qualified on the away goals rule while accusations that the Russian team partied too much dogged their collapse, despite having Guus Huddink as coach.
Arguably the best known is Cologne striker Milivoje Novakovic, who scored five times during qualifying and, at 30, is approaching the peak of his powers. The Ljubljana-born striker describes himself as making up one third of Slovenia’s “backbone”, with goalkeeper Samir Handanovic and captain Robert Koren, a talented attacking midfielder are the standouts. Their dogged determination should keep them in contention but they too, will be lucky to get a point against England and the U.S.
Fearless forecast:
1 England
2 United States
Read more from ONELOVE Ambassador Philip Cramer at Irritable Liberal Syndrome.
