Group C Discussion - Algeria, England, Slovenia, Usa

[RoyRover]

Third favourites?

Beggars belief doesn't it.

[cn174]

SWP was awful when he came on.

He was that. I think we took off Milner too early. I know he had a yellow card, but the fella he was marking got one very shortly after.

[Exiled_Rover]

So it seems my screams of anguish in the car at the announcement of the England 11 on the way to dropping my sister off at t'Reebok for the Pink concert were accurate.

Hart should be #1. Lampard and Gerrard can't play together. Heskey is tosh (decent target man, but no threat to score goals - and he can't do anything Crouch can't). Milner is sick.

Why Capello didn't take Johnson is beyond me - we're stuck with three players (Milner/Cole/Wright-Phillips) shoe horned out left out of position.

A draw against the USA is a disastrous result. To draw against a team of cloggers and journey men is disgusting. I had high hopes about our World Cup chances this time around, but not anymore.

[G Somerset Rover]

Gutted..could have predicted it but still. We'll get through but we'll get nailed against the bigger teams. Only good players were Gerrard and Heskey really. Next stop, 6 points.

[Paul]

Watched an hour before those horns got the better of me and switched off. England were poor and the USA far worse, makes you wonder about the purpose of these games. Boring game which was a very poor advert for the WC, that combined with the idiot ITV commentators and the horns drove me away. I'll probably be back for the knock out stages if England get that far, which on tonight's performance you'd have to question.

[ewoodpo]

It's all not that bad , these were the strongest opposition in the group.

The Yanks are not as bad as people are making them out to be , they beat Spain last year and also ran Brazil close .

Look at it this way we played ok , it could be worse we could be French.

[Mr. E]

It's all not that bad , these were the strongest opposition in the group.

The Yanks are not as bad as people are making them out to be , they beat Spain last year and also ran Brazil close .

Look at it this way we played ok , it could be worse we could be French.

USA played ok, but it was more England's weaknesses that led to the draw. Algeria and Slovenia can easily get draws too with the same game.

And France at least were stable at the back...for Green and England, there will not be a single attack from now until the end of the competition in which they can feel confident about.

[Rovermatt]

Great result for the US. They were very up for the game and didn't panic when they went behind to an early goal. They should kick on from here.

England weren't too bad but they really should be beating this type of opposition. Having said that, this will have been the trickiest group game. The rest should be plain sailing.

Heskey is very much the national whipping boy but his pass for Gerrard's goal was top class. He did miss a clear sight of goal later though; poor finishing.

[Steve Moss]

I'm happy with the draw. Puts the USA in a decent position to get out of the the group stage and into the knock out stage.

At periods, it defintely looked that the USA was the superior team. Not because of innate talent. When I saw the English play, I saw a bunch of football celebrities, not English heroes. With the possible exception of Gerrard who at times looked to be carrying England on both sides of the field.

Anyway, room for both teams to improve. And they'd better unless they want to risk another upset.

And I agree with those posters who found those horns annoying in the extreme.

[braddock]

Classic England....fits & starts...good move for the goal ....overconfidence...howling error...desperation...more reliance on long ball....conclude that at least we didn't lose.

Difficult to find a MotM from that to be honest.

The US centre back Onguchi Onyewu is class - both on & off the field ...he's playing next season for free as he's been injured so long at Milan.....are you watching Vince ?

no he isn't

[Tim Southampton Rover]

Who's backing the beard?

Apparently no one is allowed to shave until England get knocked out/win this years World Cup.

Don't panic though, we might only have to wait a week

[RoyRover]

I thought that the first half was very even and that U.S looked more comfortable in possession. The England goal was very well crafted and finished. England were better in the second half and restricted the U.S to counteracts. The U.S did create the best chance despite this and Green went some way to making up for his error. England had lots of pressure and created some good openings, but Heskey's shot was the only clear cut chance that I can remember. England should destroy the other teams in the group.

[Guest Kamy100]

England did ok tonight but nothing there to scare the likes of Spain and Brazil, of course often the team that wins these types of competitions starts slowly gets better as the tournament goes on.

We have to wary against the Algerians, they are no world beaters but they have a huge amount of pace in attacking positions and will give the likes of Terry and Carragher problems.

Also time for Rooney to step upto the plate. If he is going to be classed as "world class" then he needs to perform at the highest level, Messi showed today why he is world class and Rooney needs to produce to be even mentioned in the same breath as these type of players.

[dulwich]

This is what I, and a few others, saw...

ITV HD

[jim mk2]

I'm from Accrington. I cant stand England, the "Golden generation" , the WAGS, the tabloid playboy prima donnas, Ashley Cole, John Terry et at. C'mon the Yanks, c'mon Aussie.

Another Englishman who supports Australia ........ are you related to Lord Haw Haw ? He was a low form of life too.

Green's howler will be one of the classic World Cup moments, destined to be played over and over again. Like most people I don't understand why Capello started with a goalkeeper who has never been much better than average in domestic football and also has a suspect temperament. Alot of prejudice on here against Heskey who in fact had a very good game and set up the goal for Gerrard. Apart from that England were poor, especially Rooney. He has been coasting for the past few England matches and needs to show why he is regarded as one of the world's best players.

[cn174]

This is what I, and a few others, saw...

ITV HD

Does ITV HD transmit on channel 103 or a separate channel?

[Guest Kamy100]

On SKY they transmit on channel 178.

[adopted scouser]

On SKY they transmit on channel 178.

Yup, and it's not as sharp as the Beeb

[beerwins]

England will do better no doubt about that but questions should have been asked about the early substitution and why was'nt it Joe Cole instead of SWP? also Rooney was not in the game at all why was he still on the pitch? also I am sick of the pairing of Lampard and Gerrard it just doesnt work.

As we have seen already two star players do not make the best pairing the team for me should be Milner and Barry in the middle with Gerrard supporting Rooney.

Milner has been played all season in the centre mid area and looked way out of posistion on the left, apart from Greens error (which I believe will be doted on for ages and ruin another England keeper) the substitutions were key part to this game and they were awful.

Capello for me is to blame for this, to pick a team that that hasnt got a regular no 1 doesnt inspire confidence, nor does playing players out of posistion, its the World Cup ffs and this should have been sorted earlier.

[Guest Kamy100]

I think that Capello needs to look at playing a 4-5-1 formation, he has to try and get the best out of Rooney, who has said that he prefers to play upfront on his own.

This way he can bring in Barry to give some defensive cover and allow Gerrard to play off Rooney. Heskey did well today but 4-4-2 left us very open. The other problem is constantly giving away the ball, we really need to sort this out because technically superior sides will make England pay.

[McClarky]

I hope that the manager realises that Jamie (dog whistle) Carragher and SWP are a million miles from international class and should be scratched from the plans for the rest of the tournament. England also need to stop throwing themselves recklessly into tackles and hoofing the ball aimlessly up front. Same problems since the year dot really.

[Rovermatt]

The other problem is constantly giving away the ball, we really need to sort this out because technically superior sides will make England pay.

Surely this has plagued the England team for decades?

[USABlue]

Could someone clue me in as to how the yellows/suspensions are working for this World Cup

[American]

Did well neutralising Rooney, Gooch was immense - though he did make a couple of mistakes going for the ball and letting the man get past him when he didn't win it. Heskey was my motm for you guys, but Crouch's height caused us more problems when he came on.

Our attack was disappointing. Kamy talks about Algeria's speed, but in Donovan, Dempsey, Altidore and Findlay, we had a LOT of attacking speed, but did nothing with it. I think the only advantage our speed gave us was that it caused Cashley to stay back and defend more often than normal.

As for ITV - between going to commercial (at which point I said "someone is going to score") and Adrian Chiles, it was awful coverage.

[Blue n White Rover]

no he isn't

In a recent Article, he offered to play for free next season for Milan, as he was injured all this season. Don't know whether Milan agreed to it or not though.

As for the game, Gerrard and Heskey were the 2 best players out there. Our wingers were lacking any sort of cutting edge, only the odd few decent ball played into the middle. Our left side was anonymous, and for me Joe Cole should have replaced Milner.

What most people should bare in mind is that the winners usually start off slow, then perform better as the tournament goes on. We can only hope that is the case for England. Someone like Argentina, Spain or any other top team would have murdered us today. Central defence is also a major concern, Carragher was too slow, King is out injured for the next game and Dawson has no experience at this level.

Capello has some big decisions to make and let's just hope he makes the right ones, as opposed to today.