Review – Group C of the FIFA 2010 World Cup
After the 2010 World Cup qualifiers were drawn in groups, England and USA must have been thinking that they had an easy path for progressing through this group which had Slovenia and Algeria as the other two sides. During the course of the group matches and particularly in the end, it was anything but that.
England 1 USA 1: England had gone off to a flying start when their stand-in skipper Steven Gerrard put them ahead in the fourth minute of this highly anticipated pool opener. Sadly, this was going to be the only positive highlight for the next 200 minutes of their World Cup campaign. The post-match headlines featured only one name after the English goal keeper Robert Green let a speculative shot from Clink Dampsey through his arms into the goal. There were hardly any chances created by the English side and questions marks were raised on their title winning credentials.
Algeria 0 Slovenia 1: The game was moving towards a goalless draw until the Algerian substitute Abdelkader Ghazal’s two quick moments of madness earned him two yellow cards, leaving Algeria with 10 men on the field. The Slovenian side made good use of their numerical advantage but yet another goal keeping blunder was required to earn them their first ever World Cup victory. The culprit this time was Faouzi Chaouchi who could not keep out a shot on goal from Robert Koren and passed through him to the back of the net.
Slovenia 2 USA 2: The smallest nation at the 2010 World Cup was rather becoming the surprise package of the tournament after they had taken a two goal lead against the USA before the interval. With goals from Valter Birsa and Zlatan Ljubijankic, Slovenia was well on course to cause a shock until the US team’s characteristics of doing it the hard way came alive. The inspirational Landon Donovan brought his team back in the game with a, solo run, goal in only the third minute after the half time. US coach Bob Bradley’s son Bradley provided an equaliser with only eight minutes to spare. Indeed, Maurice Edu had put the ball in the net for the third time but it was mysteriously ruled out by the referee for an unseen foul.
England 0 Algeria 0: Algeria’s aggressively committed and well-organised side kept the English team and nation back home frustrated for the whole night. The English side was looking miserably out of sorts, especially in their attacking moves with none of Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard or wrongly-placed Steven Gerrard getting in the rhythm.
Slovenia 0 England 1: Slovenia was leading the group table going into the final round of group matches and only needed a draw from this match to confirm their qualification whereas it was almost a must win situation for England. Although a much improved performance was exhibited by the English side this time but they had still not scored as many goals as they would have liked. With only two goals in the three group matches, there was a lot to improve for getting any further than the Round of 16. The only goal in this match came from Jermain Defoe. At the end of the match, England were on top of the group table while Slovenia were on second spot.
USA 1 Algeria 0: USA needed a win from this match to make sure of their qualification for the Round of 16. They were heading for an early exit with a goalless draw until their talisman Landon Donovan popped up with a 91st minute winner to send USA on top of the group table, England second and Slovenia third. USA will face Ghana in the Round of 16 while England will tie up with Germany in the match of the tournament so far.
Tags: