Good result for the US!! England, as I predicted, are not world class from what I've seen in this game. US are better than most expected, and I thought they would be. English players get the most publicity so they look better than they are. I hope the US and Algeria make it out of this group!!
Ugly draw, but I'll take it. Hopefully the USA has shaken off it's nerves now and can take it to the Slovics and the Algers.
Huge tie for the USA especially with the way our back line broke down quite a few times. Howard as amazing. Jose looked to be pressing quite a bit, glad to see him at least get a nice shot on goal late in the game. A tie against the best team by far in the pool, I'll take it!
I don't think you can put Crouch back there to start just cause he's so one dimensional. He is a header specialist and sucks at everything else. Have you seen that guy try to dribble or put the ball in play? Heskey can play but he has to step up for sure. Unless you want everything to go through Rooney and just have Crouch there to always be heading stuff in they should stick with the Rooney and Heskey combination at least for now. I like him coming off the bench in my opinion but they need to get Rooney more involved if they want to do better in the cup.
I don't think this is true at all. Crouch's ability dribbling and shooting the ball is way underrated. He can do both, and he's even very fast (though it takes him time to accelerate). He does everything Heskey can do IMO. I have no idea why Heskey is playing. Crouch's strength is Rooney's weakness, it's a perfect pair.
1 point for the USA after conceding that soft early goal to Lampard, is a great result. I do think the USA played them step for step though, this was the most composed US WC team I have seen in years, you could tell them BELIEVED they belonged on that pitch. Nice change...lol. DD
Actually, the tie is worth a point and almost ensures that if the US takes care of business vs the other two teams in the group they will advance. A win was wishful thinking for most of the realists. England is not the best team by far, but they are still the 8th ranked FIFA squad, not pushovers, thats for sure. We'll take the result, because honestly the US had no business winning this game.
From what I saw of him in the last World Cup he looked really really awkward doing anything other than going up for a header. I agree with you on the fact that they are a perfect match, Rooney and Crouch, that is. I like the combination as well but have to make sure they get Rooney involved and leave Crouch as a guy ready for crosses etc. Without utilizing Rooney to his max England will not be able to create in my opinion.
On defense Oguchi Onyewu was a beast, him and Howard carried the US team on their back. England should have won, they had lapses in their own end but their midfield and attack were quite good. Best game of the world cup as of right now, was a lot of fun to watch.
Personally, I think in the World Cup, it's impossible to win with just one striker. If that's the case, they need to flank him with two scorers (Gerard playing right wing and Joe Cole Left wing). Lennon and wright philips are not scoring threats.
I thought our midfield was marginally better than England's, England's forwards were marginally better than ours, England's defense was much better than ours, and obviously Howard is one of the best keepers in the game. A tie isn't bad, but we'll get 'em next time. (Hopefully we get a next time.)
