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We opened the campaign against our favorite frienemies, the Brits. Sure our countries are playmates when it comes to politics and wars, but our World Cup (not to mention that whole littttle disagreement back in the 1700s) history is spiky. Sloppy defending let Stevie G slide one past Tim Howard in the opening minutes.  We were then running uphill trying to find the equalizer. Clint Dempsey, who scored his share of circus goals from distance this season for Fulham, decided to try his luck after a few unintentional stopovers. West Ham’s Robert Green then chose to make it up to us Americans for that whole Benedict Arnold thing by fumbling the ball into his own net. Was it pretty? No. Was the American Revolution pretty? No. But both got the job done. 1 point? Check please.

Our next test was Slovenia. Just as we were beginning to thrive on the role of underdog, baby Slovenia pranced into our group and asked us to partake in a friendly wittle game of football. Baby Slovenia then decided to hit puberty and morph in to a full on rebellious teenager, scoring two goals in the first half.  Being the come-from-behind junkies that we are, we came out in the second half a new team. That balding dreamboat Landon Donovan then took the game in to his own hands by scoring a gorgeous goal from a tight angle. We pushed and pushed, until eventually Michael Bradley stole a second in the 82^nd minute. EXCITING.

Michael Bradley after scoring the equalizer.

Two draws from two games left us with a must win game against Algeria if we wanted to progress from our group. A loss meant we were out of the cup and a draw meant… well it was one of those situations where goal differential, England’s result, lottery numbers, and star alignments needed to work together in perfect harmony for us to progress. Forget the draw though; we just needed all three points.

The Algerians were quite the intimidating opponents. At first, it seemed that the large African nation had fielded a troop of Bruno impersonators to play mind games with the U.S. squad.  Once the American’s shook off the initial shock of having to face 11 blonde-tipped boy band members, they found themselves in a tight match up. The game was a nervy stalemate with both teams having their fair share of solid chances. We didn’t concede early, which was a fantastic change from our previous two games and a huge relief for my beaten heart. Tim Howard released Landon Donovan down the wide-open right flank with a superb throw in the 91^st minute. The break eventually saw Clint Dempsey’s close range effort stopped by the keeper only to be put away by the onrushing Donovan. That sent us top of the group (for the first time in United States history), clear of the underachieving Red Coats.

The Algerian captain.

I was in a packed pub in Orlando, FL, USA for that game. When Donovan scored, the place erupted in cheers and screams and hugs and crying. It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. The noise never let up for a solid ten minutes. As I watched the post game interviews, I found myself with an arm around a big sweaty stranger and my drink spilled across the table. It didn’t matter. We were proud. We then went on to lead the pub in a rendition of this fantastically horrible gem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-9_fDEsv-Q

Watch this next video to get an idea of America’s reaction to Donovan’s last minute winner (it gives me chills every time): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbn3rOPmR9w&feature=youtube

Our incredibly exciting run in the 2010 World Cup came to an end at the hands of the last remaining African nation, Ghana. The game needed extra time to decide a winner, with Ghana scoring in the 93^rd minute to kill us off.  I might or might not have cried a little on the way out of the pub.

The end was bitter but it couldn’t overshadow all the great moments that made up the United State’s journey in South Africa. We’re all incredibly proud of our boys and the way they never gave up. I’ve seen passion for the game spread like wildfire across the nation over the past few weeks. Only time will tell whether that passion will endure or fade now that the United State’s journey is over. Either way, U.S. soccer is on the way up. It might take two or three more World Cup’s before we’re real contenders, but we can wait. It’ll be worth it. I’ll leave you with a real heart grenade of a tweet from the United States all time leading scorer, the balding dreamboat himself, LanDo:

“I’m really proud of our team, really proud of our fans, and really proud of our country. Thank you for all the support we’ve felt over the last 3 weeks, what an incredible ride. Thanks especially to all those that travelled so far to watch us play. Goodnight and thank you.” – Landon Donovan

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Dempsey’s goal wrongly adjudged offside

Jozy Altidore misses

Landon Donovan scores crucial last gasp goal

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The USA will be forced into a change, with forward Robbie Findley suspended for picking up two bookings. Clint Dempsey could play in an advanced role, as he did in the second half against Slovenia, with Benny Feilhaber coming into midfield.
Jose Torres, who was substituted at half time of that game, is expected to be dropped in favour of Ricardo Clark or Maurice Edu.
Algeria’s first-choice goalkeeper, Faouzi Chaouchi, has recovered from a knee injury, but Rais M’Bolhi may keep his place after playing his part in the nation’s first clean sheet in a World Cup finals. Forward Abdelkader Ghezzal is available after serving a one-match ban. (BBC Sport)

Highlights of this match can be seen by CLICKING HERE. You can also see every World Cup goal that is scored the moment its up online and you can do that by CLICKING HERE.

Both sides have it all to play for in this Pretoria fixture as victory for either nation will secure a berth in the knock out stages. Bob Bradley’s United States side have shown great character to battle back from goals down in their first two games and will hope that they can edge past an Algerian side still yet to score in this competition.

Highlights of previous World Cup group games these two have taken part in.

Slovenia 2-2 United States

Slovenia 2-2 USA

Simão | MySpace Video

England 0-0 Algeria

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The supporter managed to get past security at the Green Point stadium in Cape Town following England’s lacklustre goalless draw against Algeria in order to berate the players.
It is understood he gained access to the team dressing room after the players had left the pitch.

An investigation was immediately launched and the FA made a formal complaint to Fifa after it emerged that the security breach occurred shortly after the Princes, who had been attending the match, had paid a morale boosting visit to the team.
The disgruntled fan is understood to have confronted former England captain David Beckham over the team’s poor performance.
The man, who was dressed in an England shirt, was able to breach several levels of security in order to reach the team.
England players were booed off the pitch following their second disappointing draw of the tournament.
Beckham was said to have been “alarmed” when he was suddenly confronted by the man who was voicing is frustration at the side’s failure to overcome Algeria who are ranked 30th in the world – 22 places below England.
The man was ejected by officials at the ground and it is believed he was detained by police for further questioning.
An FA spokesman said: “We can confirm that a fan entered the dressing room this evening after the match and we have registered the incident with FIFA.”
A massive security operation had been put in place before last night’s match with thousands of officers on duty and helicopters patrolling the skies above the stadium.
The game had been deemed as one of 11 classed Risk One – the highest risk of a terror attack.
Opponents Algeria are the only Islamic nation playing in the tournament. A St James’s Palace spokesman said the fan did not go into the dressing room while the princes were there.
After the match, Princes William and Harry visited the England players in the dressing room to give them a morale boost ahead of their vital final group match.
Royal sources said the princes “still believe England can go through to the next stage”.
A St James’s Palace spokesman said: “The Princes met the players privately to offer their support after today’s result and as they prepare for their key game on Wednesday. They’re totally behind the team.”
Lt Col Leon Engelbrecht, a spokesman for South African Police, said detectives are examining CCTV footage of the incident. “The footage shows an unknown male entering the changing room,” he said. “He was not stopped by
Fifa or police or anyone else. He went in and apparently made a comment to David Beckham. I think he was just upset about the England game.
“He was then escorted out by Mark Linden, a Fifa official. Unfortunately, Mr Linden did not report the incident to SAPS or Fifa.
“At this stage our crime intelligence is looking at the CCTV. We have no information about the man’s arrest at this stage.” (Telegraph)

Another example of the great security in force at these World Cup Finals. Apparently the police are still looking for this guy and have released the following information about the Angry Fan.

“The man was wearing a red t-shirt and jeans. We believe he is still in Cape Town”

Ermm, could that red t-shirt be the England kit? And jeans? Another unique form of clothing. Should be easy enough to locate such a man in the city of Cape Town, filled as it is with England fans wearing jeans! Seriously though, how can this kind of thing happen?

It takes some doing to infiltrate an official dressing room. You have to first get onto the playing surface through the security cordon that encircles the entrance to the pitch from the dressing room and then into the dressing room.

You would have to wonder though why an Angry Fan would manage all that and then only manage to berate David Beckham who of course is only at the World Cup so that he can be helpfully used as a cut-away during boring bits in matches, which is why last night he was picked up on the live broadcast 47 times during the Algeria game.

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Lampard has comes close

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Algeria will target England’s Robert Green with long-range shots after USA howler
Algeria have admitted they will target England goalkeeper Robert Green with long range shots if, as is likely, Fabio Capello sticks with the West Ham shot stopper for Friday’s Group C clash.

Capello will again not inform the players of his starting XI until the day of the match, although it is thought that the Italian will stick with Green, despite his howler against the USA that gifted Clint Dempsey an equalising goal.
Algeria, who have never faced England before, know that they too must win, having crashed 1-0 to Slovenia in their opening game, and are now aware of Green’s vulnerability and the unpredictable swerve of the controversial Jabulani World Cup ball.

Algeria captain Antar Yahia said: “We’d certainly not mind if it (Green’s mistake) happened again.
“And we will try to put pressure on England and their goalkeeper. We are determined to make the Algerian people proud of us.
“We have qualities which should shine through against England. We are going to pose problems for the English. We will be more ambitious than we were against Slovenia and that is a role that suits us better.
“It’s obviously going to be hard for us, but England were not quite on their game against the US and football is not an exact science. England have great individuals, big players, but as we saw on Saturday, their team is perhaps not yet in top gear.
“We are well-organised and we will have to see how we adapt tactically. For us what really matters is to learn the lessons from our defeat to Slovenia. We haven’t got much time to correct things.
“We have a tight defence and we have got to stay that way, but also pose the English problems ourselves. Against Slovenia we were solid, we were well organised, but unfortunately we did not get any points.
“That is really frustrating. We made big mistakes and we put ourselves in difficulty. We gave gifts to the opposition. I hope in the next match we don’t make mistakes like that which will prove as costly.”
Both teams have seen their goalkeepers come in for criticism for horrendous blunders which have proved expensive.” (Telegraph)

Given the relatively poor showing from Algeria’s keeper against Slovenia, CLICK HERE to see his Green-eqsue fumble, it could be a long range fest in Cape Town on Friday. We could end up with a cricket score!

The irresistible combination of two off form keepers and a Jabulani ball that has a mind of its own could bring us a World Cup game to remember. England should of course win, but then we said that about the United States game, so who knows. One thing is for sure, there appears to be far less speculation about Robert Green’s potential move to Arsenal and elsewhere. Perhaps this was his plan all along…probably not.

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Decent save from Chaouchi

Algeria 0-1 Slovenia (Koren)

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Algeria head coach Rabah Saadane has dropped out-of-form captain Yazid Mansouri, with Portsmouth’s Hassan Yebda partnering Medhi Lacen in midfield. Defender Anther Yahia will lead the team.
Goalkeeper Faouzi Chaouchi and attacking left-back Nadir Belhadj are serving suspensions following their red cards in January’s Africa Cup of Nations
Slovenia head coach Matjaz Kek stuck with a settled starting line-up in the last five World Cup qualifiers, captained by former West Brom midfielder Robert Koren.
Star striker Milivoje Novakovic proved his fitness following an abdominal injury with two goals in a friendly win against New Zealand. Fellow forward Zlatan Ljubijankic has overcome a slight ankle problem. (BBC Sport)

Both Slovenia and Algeria will be heartened by the draw between England and the United States last night that gives messrs Saadane and Kek hope of qualification. However if either team has hopes of reaching the knockout stages they will know that three points from this encounter will be paramount.

Expect midfielder Hassan Yebda to be a crucial player to watch. If the Pompey man is in the right frame of mind he could help the north African side to three important points in Polokwane.

Highlights of recent warm up games the two sides have taken part in.

Ireland 3-0 Algeria

Slovenia 3-1 New Zealand