TRY TO IMAGINE PHIL JACKSON NOT GETTING THE BALL TO MICHAEL:

U.S. negates England's midfield (Jonathan Wilson, 6/12/10, SI)

The Gerrard-Lampard axis in the middle of a four-man midfield never really convinces, because the two are too similar, both preferring to attack the opposition box than defend their own. That certainly wasn't England's biggest worry, but its inadequacy perhaps was a (minor) contributory factor in Dempsey's goal. Again and again when the two have played together, England have been vulnerable to players attacking the hole that tends to emerge in front of the back four when there is no natural holder, and although Gerrard almost got back to cover, it was from precisely that weak spot that Dempsey struck the decisive shot.

The bigger worry about the center, though, was that Gerrard and Lampard were never fully able to impose themselves on Michael Bradley, who had an excellent night, and Ricardo Clark. Gerrard and Lampard are the more talented, but that advantage was cancelled out by the USA's fight. Capello spoke afterwards of being delighted to see "the English spirit," but it's hard to know what he meant by that.

This was, as it was always going to be, a dogged game between two athletic teams who operate in similar shapes.

And that, of course, is what makes Barry's injury such a frustration for England. If he were there, he could play alongside Lampard with Gerrard to the left, breaking the natural lines of 4-4-2 into something approximating to a 4-2-3-1. There is always a tendency with England for players to remain stolidly in position, but Gerrard on the left will always cut infield. That creates a vacuum that both encourages Wayne Rooney to pull left, and Ashley Cole to push forward from left back, and so England are almost kicked into movement despite themselves. Without that, they become very static.

Rooney also had a quiet night, which was partly down to the excellence of Oguchi Onyewu. When England's 4-2-3-1 was functioning at its best, about a year ago, Rooney was operating at Manchester United either as a second striker or as a wide player. More recently United have used him as an out-and-out striker, and he appeared to take that position conditioning into Saturday's game. In the first half, he played far higher up the field than he used to, so he was often up alongside Emile Heskey rather than playing off him. The result again was to make England more static; when they did get a player breaking form deep, as Gerrard ran on for Heskey to lay him in, England scored.