World Cup, (After ALL That)

Okay, first the group C table:

Slovenia: 4 pts; GD: +1
USA* 2 0
England 2 0
Algeria 1 -1

* second on goals scored

So, the scenario is, we need a win against Algeria, or a draw and a Slovenia win over England, or a draw and a draw between Slovenia and England in which the teams don't score more than two more goals than we do in our theoretical draw with Algeria.

The most likely scenario, (I think, these things are getting more and more tenative) is that USA and England both win by a goal, we actually still have a good shot to even top the group.

But the hell with all of the maybies, beat Algeria and we're in, beat the team that not just 'held' the third ranked team in the world to a draw but solidly outplayed them in the first half. No fucking problem.

Still I'm optimistic. The USMNT under Bob "No I'm not dying of AIDS, why do you ask?" Bradley knows how to score, which is something new for us. We also have a knack for playing American style 'playoff' futbol, coming to life when our backs are against the wall, as witnessed in last years Confederations Cup, a couple of barely averted disasters in the WC qualifiers, and of course today against Slovenia. Plus there's the fact that we beat Egypt 3-0 at the Confed Cup, while Algeria needed to beat them in a nuetral-ground playoff in the qualifiers after deadlocking on points and all tiebreakers. It means nothing now I know.

If nothing else we can say that our team played in what was easily the best game played in the entire tournament so far, if Germany and Brazil played that kind of game in the Semifinals it would be talked about for years, and if England has another flop against Slovenia, this little number surely will be...









Ha-ha