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Matcho & Result: England vs USA (12 Jun 2010)

15 years ago in Uncategorized

Winner: Draw
Score: England(1) vs USA(1)
4′ Steven Gerrard (England)
41′ Dempsey (USA)

Recap

England was supposed to win this game given their exposure, skills, and experience in World Cup. The last time USA came close giving England a competitive game was around 5 decades ago.

England did not disappoint when Steven Gerrard scored a goal with just 4 minutes into the game. England continued to attack aggressively and look poised to score another goal. Wright-Phillips run the field smoothly with Ashley Cole while Rooney at the receiving end had a number of chances at the goal.

USA had a chance to score when Donovan delivered the ball accurately towards the head of the Oguchi Onyewu but the header went past the goal.

What looks like to be a long game for USA suddenly turned around when England goalkeeper made a key mistake allowing the shot of Dempsey from the top of the box roll off his hands into the goal.

The second half had a series of runs from both England and USA but the closes chance came when Altidore had a breakaway shot from the left inside box when England goalkeeper Green made the beautiful save. It was a redeeming move for Green.

Key Takeaway

This is a very bad result for England who came in heavily favored but failed to get 3 points off USA. Algeria and Slovenia are happy campers who are hoping to get ahead of the pack with a win on Sunday. England showed fluidity running the offense but any of them could not finish off with another goal. England should have scored at least 2 goals in the game.

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Liveblogging: England vs USA (12 Jun 2010)

15 years ago in Uncategorized

England (1) vs USA (1)

Draw, each team gets 1 point each.

Thanks for joining me. Hope to see you again in the next game, Liveblogging — Milo.

90′ Possession changes. Crouch offside.
88′ Donovan almost got his 43rd international goal. But not today.
82′ England pushing but it seems their legs are tired.
79′ Crouch comes in for Heskey, just about time. Heskey had so many chances.
76′ Los Angeles Galaxy Buddle gets in for Findley
76′ Heskey header off Gerrard cross way over the top
75′ Howard another stop from Rooney flick of left boot
75′ Rooney passing to Wright-Phillips, Howard with a save. 24 shots on goal. One goal would make it sooner or later.
74′ Rooney shot on goal, just a little off the right, swerved ball
73′ Findley Yellow Card
73′ Johnson on a volley but no one to catch
70′ Gerrard cross, awkward angle, Rooney misses header
70′ England passing on top of the box, Lennon, Rooney, Wright-Philipps but could not get a shot
68′ Lampard kick from top of the box way over the bard
67′ Johnson returns back, Lampard freekick
64′ Altidore breathaking push on breakaway, just couldn’t score.
63′ Highlight: Frank Lampard shot on goal, should have made it. Good save by Howard.
51′ Highlight: Heskey should have scored on that breakaway but drove it straight to Howard, easy save. A floater would have done it.
50′ Rooney on breakaway could have scored but was offside.
50′ Still no substitution for USA, England already had 2
49′ Johnson with a cross but failed goal.
48′ Lennon attacked the box but a pass to Rooney was way off. Could have been a goal.
46′ Info: Terry has six goals for England while Lampard has 20
46′ England Terry with a backheader over the goal
Second half underway
Half-time
45′ Altidore hustles Terry, gets throw in for USA
45′ England offside, 3 minutes added
44′ England attacking on the box
41′ GOOOAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL, Dempsey equalises, Goal 19 for Dempsey in international career
39′ Howard doesn’t seem injured he just kicked the ball towards the end of the England goal,
38′ Free kick England, Yellow card on USA Cherundulo
38′ Donovan shot on top of the goal but missed towards left, inches away
37′ Wright-Philipps (England) shot another one on goal on top of the box. Missed inches
36′ USA has 6 to 5 advantage on shots on goal, but England got one in
35′ Altidore handball, England setting up play
34′ Corner didn’t produce for England, USA made a fast attack but six England players defended back up
34′ England setting up play just outside the box, Lampard spins away, England corner
28′ England two chances to score. Howard injured.
27′ England on a breakaway, but could not execute
26′ USA lines up player for free kick by Donovan. Header just wide
25′ Yellow Card England, James Milner
25′ Dempsey had another shot at the goal but Terry deflects
24′ England attacking almost a goal but Lennon gets the ball
24′ Crisp passing by USA fueled by Bradley stopped by Ledley
23′ USA gets ball, Donovan sets up play
23′ Johnson and Lampard from England passing ball
22′ USA gets possession back, Donovan setting up play
21′ Ashley Cole winning cap 79
21′ Bradley goes right
21′ USA attacking
19′ Rooney had a clear shot, Lennon gets it
19′ England almost scores, Lampard follows up but goalkeeper catches
18′ Capello angry
18′ Donovan’s cross missed on a header
17’50” Free kick US
17′ This is Terry’s 61st game as a leader
17′ Terry gets a free kick
16′ England possession passing the ball around
13′ US corner courtesy of Gerrard against Donovan
11′ Donovan’s corner deflected by Ledley King
04′ Fastest FIFA World Cup South Africa Goal
04′ Steven Gerrard scores a goal for England
04′ GOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLL
01′ Go, go, go
Match kicks off

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Pre-game: England vs USA (12 Jun 2010)

15 years ago in Uncategorized

Match Details

England-USA, Group C, Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Friday 12 June, 20.30 (local time)

The much favored England is going against the less favored USA. Fabio Capello has instilled confidence in the team following their failure to qualify for Euro 2008. They have all their games which proves their skill and capability and have just lost a game to get booted out of the Euro 2008.

USA is riding high following their win against Spain in the Confederations Cup.

USA is powered by Lando Donovan but while he is a fearsome striker, he is not in the league of Wayne Rooney who is looking to put his career and reputation back on track against USA.

Key Takeaway

England is going to the game heavily favored to win and their experience, skills, exposure should be more than enough for this.

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Matcho & Result: Argentina vs Nigeria (12 Jun 2010)

15 years ago in Uncategorized

Winner: Argentina
Score: Argentina(1) vs Nigeria(0)

Recap

This is a historic moment for Diego Maradona who once led Argentina to winning the FIFA World Cup on perhaps one of the greatest goals scored in FIFA World Cup history. Diego who was thrown out in disgrace in USA ’94 followed by a series of issues and problems, no one thought he would be back in the Finals leading the country once again (now as a coach).

When the game started, Lionel Messi showed why he is today’s greatest footballer by making a first run at Nigeria in just 40 seconds of the game. The first crack of a goal was with the Nigerian side however when Obasi shot wide after leaving Gutierrez behind.

Messi continued to be on the aggressive side during the first 5 minutes of the game which boosted his teammates to score the first goal on the 6th minute of the game where Gabriel Heinze shot a header off a corner right kick from Veron.

The remaining minutes of the first half saw Argentina and Nigeria exchanging possessions where the only real chance of another goal came in the 44th minute where Lionel Messi was just outside the left area box when he was sent to the floor. Veron’s free-kick was way over the mark. Could this be the complain of footballers on the new Adidas’ ball dynamics where it changes direction in midair?

After the half time Nigeria didn’t show any signs of concern for Argentina other than a number of substitutions that could provide surprises. Instead, Argentina surprised Nigeria on the 66th mark with a four on two breakaway but the pass given by Tevez did not arrive to Messi for a powerful kick but had to improvise shooting wide.

Nigeria showed some life on a Odemwingie possession in the box but shot above the goal.

On the 81st minute Nigerian goalkeeper Enyeama made the biggest save of the game when Messi had a clean shot to the goal.

From here on Argentina took time holding possession while Nigeria didn’t have a sense of urgency until the game ended.

Records Books:
Gabriel Heinze’s score on the 6th minute became the eight goal for Argentina within the first seven minutes of the game. Currently they are on third place behind only to Italy with 9 and Hungary with ten.

Veron became the second Argentine with most World Cup assists (5) against Diego’s (nine) dating back to 1966.

Lionel Messi made six goalscoring chances beating the previous record of four. There should be another record – the most number of unconverted goalscoring chance by a player.

Key Takeaway

Argentina showed a lot of aggressiveness throughout the game but they only made one goal against the less than impressive defensive formation of Nigeria. Argentina should be able to finish with a goal via Lionel Messi.

Nigeria on the other hand didn’t show enough aggressiveness and urgency in the game. For crying out loud, this is the World Cup.

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Pre-game: South Africa vs Mexico (11 Jun 2010)

15 years ago in Uncategorized

Match Details

South Africa-Mexico, Group A, Johannesburg, Friday 11 June, 16.00 (local time)

FIFA World Cup 2010 has finally arrived and host country South Africa is opening the games against Group A competitors Mexico held at the flagship Soccer City in Johannesburg.

South Africa is heavily favored to win the tournament as history is on their side. No host nation has every lost an opening game in the FIFA World Cup Finals. Mexico has never won an opening FIFA World Cup Game in four tries – 1930, 1950, 1958, and 1970.

It is expected that South Africa is coming out in droves in the opening game which should give the host nation a huge boost throughout the game.

Game history

These two nations have met twice where Mexico holds a 2-1 win lead against South Africa. Bafana Bafana however, have won their latest encounter during the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Why Mexico would win?

Mexico is a tough opponent where World Cup veterans Gerardo Torrado, Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Rafael Marquez provides stability while Giovani dos Santos, Carlos Vela are the youthful energetic players giving Mexico a fluid and fast paced game. Mexico lost 2-1 against Italy during a warm-up game and given Italy’s firepower, Mexico should be favored to win against South Africa.

Why South Africa would win?

South Africa has solid faith on FIFA World Cup 1994 winning coach in Carlos Parreira who was rehired October 2009 to give hope to South Africa. Parreira is confident on the host nations ability to play solid and competitive throughout FIFA World Cup 2010. Carlos has this to say on South Africa:

“We respect everyone, but we fear nobody. If you had asked me five months ago if we were ready, I would have told you that ‘no, we have a long way to go’. But today, I’m happy with the progress, we are up there, we are ready for the task that awaits us. We still have time to work on one or two things, but overall, I’m happy.

We now have an identity, we now have our own style. We are playing with a lot of confidence and the most important thing is, this team is playing to its strengths.

When I took this job, I said that my biggest priority is to give this team an identity, I sold that vision to the players and today, watching them play like that, I was very happy with the fact that they have bought into the vision. This team is more comfortable with the ball at its feet, we like to keep possession and to pass the ball around. That is what we are doing and that is why I’m very happy.”

Key matchup

Steven Pienaar vs Rafael Marquez

Steven Piennaar, the creative Everton midfielder, is confident and raring to exceed expectations for his host nation’s people. Piennaar expects to see solid defense from Mexican veteran Rafael Marquez who was deployed Mexican coach  Javier Aguirre on the holding midfield to specifically stop the rhythm of Pienaar.

Key takeaway

Everyone expects to see the host nation win the opening game while Mexico is looking to make history by taking South Africa out. Mexico is also motivated to break their losing opening game streak as well. This is going to be an interesting match up and the world is on their feet.

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