USA v Slovenia

World Cup Soccer, USA v Slovenia

Wow, what a game.

I don't think anybody, least of all the players, thought Slovenia would be a walk-over, but we had to be the consensus favorite.

The US team started out the game in a lackluster fashion. They spent the whole first period one-half step behind the Slovenians and, sure enough, went into the break down 2-0.

The US central defenders were not strong. I don't think Onyewu is 100% recovered from his knee injury. He seems to wobble when he runs and has trouble keeping up with the attacking runners.

And I like the idea of Demerit more than I like his play. To travel to England as a relatively unheralded player and end up starting in the Premier League and on the US National Team is extremely impressive. But he seems to flail around a bit back there.

The second half started out better with the US picking up the pace. Donovan set the tone by dropping deep into his own half to defend and pick up the ball to move forward. Anything good was going to have to come through Donovan or Dempsey, or both.

Finally Donovan got free on the wing when his marker fell and advanced on the goal. Donovan didn't have any support and had to take what was available, which was not much. He rocketed a shot at the roof of the goal, as if taunting the keeper, “You can block this shot with your face if you want to”. The keeper declined the offer and the score was 2-1.

Bradley evened the score, poking a loose ball into the net in the 82nd minute. Then Edu buried a brilliant delivery from Donovan off a free kick. A 3-2 victory assured but for a quick whistle from the referee. Nobody knows what the call was and no explanation has been offered.

So we settled for a draw.

And why are the Slovenians wearing Charlie Brown's shirt?

By my calculations, here's how we advance:

If we beat Algeria, we advance no matter what.

If we tie Algeria and the England/Slovenia game is a draw, we tie-break on goals with England (where we hold the advantage for now).

If we tie Algeria and England wins, we're out. If we tie and Slovenia wins, we advance.

If we lose, we're out.

Basically, we need to win the game. Doable, but who knows?