IF EVERYONE WERE HEALTHY...:

England beware a steadily advancing USA (Ian Plenderleith, 6/12/10, When Saturday Comes)

When the US play defensively – a necessity for any limited side at this level – it is said to reflect Bradley’s typically dour tactics. Yet when they score thrillingly on the counter-attack, usually through the Donovan-Dempsey-Altidore axis, then poor old Bob rarely gets much credit. The US rode their luck in that 2-0 win over Spain last June that ended the Spaniards’ 35-game unbeaten stretch, yet it remains Spain’s only defeat in the past three years and is proof that the US have the savvy and the work ethic to surprise top sides. [...]

Satirical rag The Onion this week duly rehashed its default angle that football is a minority sport in the US loved only by irksome snobs, but that notion is out of date by at least a decade or two. Almost everybody in the US is aware of the World Cup this time around, and most are intrigued by the prospect of Saturday’s game. Casual fans no longer think that the US team will be worthy of attention only when they become world champions. Knowledge of the global game is expanding as rapidly as the game itself, played by millions of Americans of both sexes. If any further motivation to do well in South Africa was needed, it would be to smack down once and for all the persistent, condescending European and South American view that the Yanks don’t know anything about football.

That condescension masks a fear that the long-term potential of the US is to become a world football power, backed by its wealth, infrastructure, growing professionalism and steady improvements in its coaching philosophies. The current US team lacks the depth at international level to be a likely contender this time around, but whereas England are constantly encumbered by a millstone (1966), the US are motivated by milestones that mark stealthy progress. Looking beyond the irrelevant focus on the fluke of 1950 and its one-off rematch 60 years later, the US football project is perfectly placed to advance.

...you'd pick us to win it. But if Altidore, Onyewu and Demerit can't play at the level they did in the Confederations cup it's more difficult. Unfortunately, England's injuries improve their team, removing Rio Ferdinand and David James. On Match of the Day last night though they said that Capello is expected to start Emile Heskey over Peter Crouch which is a gift.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 12, 2010 7:01 AM