U.S. draws England, Algeria, Slovenia for WC
Avoiding getting drawn into a potential Group of Death with France, Portugal, or a strong African team like Ghana, the U.S. men’s national team was grouped this morning with England, Algeria, and Slovenia for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
The U.S. matches will all take place within a 90-minute drive of two of South Africa’s most populous cities, Johannesburg and Pretoria. The U.S. may also have an advantage in that they played matches in last summer’s Confederations Cup at each of the stadiums they will see in the group stage of the World Cup: Ellis Park in Johannesburg, Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, and the Royal Bafoken Stadium in Rustenburg.
The U.S. schedule is:
Saturday, June 12 against England at Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg
Friday, June 18 against Slovenia at Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg
Wednesday, June 23 against Algeria at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria
Look for detailed travel tips in the coming days when we publish Center Line Soccer’s Travelers’ Guide to the World Cup.
The US dodged a bullet and avoided the group of death, group G. We play the hardest team first(england) and finish with the weakest (Algeria) last. We have a very good chance of advancing to the next round out of this group.
It seems you under estimate us Americans!!!! You shall see an 23rd what it is going to happen to you. You better make sure your qualification before meeting us.
Group G is interesting, but I feel Group D is for Death. All 4 teams in Germany’s will have realistic aspirations to progress, there is no weak link in there at all.
AS for worst teams, perhaps Nth Korea, NZ and Hondura will go home pointless..but you never can tell!!
You are absolutely right Tom, you will play the hardest team first (England) and finish with the weakest (Algeria) last and then you will fly back home. because you will loose all your games.
Lose to a third world county that barely made it into the World cup on the good luck of a playoff? Not likely. Like it or not, Algeria is the weakest link in the group, no amount of chest thumping from its supporters will change that fact.
US could never make it into the world cup if they are playing the qualification phase in Africa. By the way when did you hear about football?
Let’s keep it civil, folks! The World Cup spirit can be observed here online as well. (That’s not directed at you two, Tom & Tayeb — I deleted a comment from another user.)
One point regarding the football, though. While the U.S. has never played Algeria, they have both played Egypt recently. Algeria 1-0 to advance to the World Cup; the U.S. won 3-0 to advance to the semifinal of the Confederations Cup.
Based on those results, I think you’d have to say the U.S. will be favored against Algeria next June.
While I do agree that the US has a much better draw than in 2006, I don’t think it will be a walk in the park to advance out of the group. England should obviously be considered the favorite to win the group, while Slovenia will be a well organized opponent similar to England, but without the stars. Algeria is the dark horse. I would say that we should look forward to Algeria upsetting one or more teams in the group.
(comment paraphrased by editor) I am from Egypt and so jealous of both the U.S. and Algeria for advancing to the World Cup that I cannot express myself without using profanities. I apologize sincerely for being such a pathetic person! Perhaps my country will do better next time.
*sigh* …So much for civility.
There are no easy groups in the World Cup any more. Every team, even the minnows, have gotten better over the years. Every four years, one or two highly regarded teams flame out, and one or two of the minnows does “shockingly” well. For the US in this tournament, we go up against a very tough England squad first, we could lose that one easily, though of course, I’m hoping for the best. Next we play Slovenia. It’s going to look a lot like our match against the Czechs in ’06. We could drop that one too. By the time we play Algeria we might already be out of it. Best case, we tie Enguland, and we beat both Slovenia and Algeria to win the group. Whoever finishes second in this group gets to play Germany in the second round. It’s going to be a tough road no matter what.
The US could win or lose every game…that is part of our teams problem over the years.
Honestly, It all really depends on me. I have been to 5 USA World Cup matches in my lifetime (during the 1998 and 2006 World Cups) and the USA is 0-5 (you can guess the game at the last World Cup I could not get tickets for).
I still haven’t deciding if I want to spend the cash to go to South Africa, so for the USA’s sake perhaps I should just stay home.
eBar
ebar that is a hilarious story. I had the same problem with college soccer. I never once attended a game that we won. I’ve even sat down at the end of games with only 5 minutes to go, only to have my school give up 2 goal leads. I stopped going to matches and we almost won the college finals!
I attended three U.S. matches at the Confed Cup last summer: Brazil and Italy in the group stage and Brazil in the final. They lost all three. I did not attend the two matches they won, Egypt and Spain. Maybe if I had left the final at halftime…
I’ll be in South Africa for the World Cup next year. I am not planning on attending any US matches. You’re all welcome.
usa has a goog team those last years but not enough to defeat algeria
remember, algeria semi finaliste afr cup 2010 and eliminated egypt three times Consecutive champion of african cup despite with cheating but he still great team
and i bet that mouloudia d’alger crushes san jose earthquakes by 4 goals