Group C

We continue with our World Cup group by group analysis with group C today. Thats right, America's group.

England (FIFA rank 8, 13th appearance (1 time winner))

England breezed through qualifying, topping their group by 6 points of second place. Led by Wayne Rooney up front and the likes of Steven Gerard and Frank Lampard in the mid field, England made a statement. After failing to qualify for Euro 08 and sacking then coach Sven Goran Erricson, England has looked very dominant.

This is definitely one of the best English sides of all time but will that turn into a second World Cup trophy? After an injury scare that kept the entire nation holding their breath, Rooney has recovered and will lead the attack. Gerard and Lampard will control the midfield and try to spark the attack. John Terry, Rio Ferdinand and Ashley Cole will anchor a very strong but very turbulent back line. Terry lost his captaincy after some controversy over an affair with another players with while Cole has had an injury plagued season and has been a little out of form. The questions come with the goal keeping and who will take up the position. Since David Seaman left after the 02 cup (and should have left earlier) the English goal has been weakly protected.

USA (14, 9)

The American's also qualified fairly easily (again) and topped CONCACAF. There was some turmoil about mid way through but the USA came out of it shinning and in first place. Team USA also put on a nice showing at the Confederations Cup losing to Brazil 3-2 after being up 2-0. The Americans actually went 2-0-3 in the tournament and got a lot of hype for a so-so performance. After being humiliated by Brazil and Italy in the group phase, they managed to finish second by beating Egypt and Brazil beating Italy. While the win over Spain and the game against Brazil in the final were impressive, the tournament as a whole was not.

The team will be led once again by attacking midfielder Landon Donovan. Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley will also help anchor the midfield while Jozy Altidore will be expected to lead the attack. Oguchi Onyewu will lead a strong back line and Tim Howard will patrol the goal posts. The American defense is strong but is their attack strong enough to get the goals necessary to move out of the group phase for only the third time in their history?

Algeria (31

Algeria is back in the world cup for the first time since 86. Algeria is probably the weakest of the African teams that went through qualification but that doesn't mean they can't play. They topped their group which included African Nation's champions Egypt and beating them again in a playoff. Lead by top goal scorers Antar Yahia and Karim Ziani the Algerians will play a counter attacking style to try to surprise teams. However, with little big game experience the Algerians could be over matched.

Slovenia (23, 3)

Slovenia enters the world cup after beating European big boys Russia in a two legged playoff match. They finished second to Slovakia in their qualifying group only 2 points back and with a goal differential of +14 (18 for to only 4 against). Slovenia then shocked Russia to earn their spot.

As you may have guessed, Slovenia boast a very strong defense. They also like to counter attack but can also hold possession and take control of a game as well. They will be led by top goal scorer Milivoje Novakovic and Mirnes Sisic.

Predictions:

This group is strange as 3 of the 4 teams prefer to counter attack and give up possession majority in order to do so. It will be interesting to see what happens when any of these teams play each other and who will take control of the game and be assertive. The USA vs. England match in game 1 should be fun and interesting to watch. In the end I think that England will probably top the group with 9 points but with the turmoil that has taken place in England they may falter. The USA will be favored to finish second but if they play like they did at the beginning of the Confed Cup they will go home early once again. Algeria are more happy just to be at the World Cup and will see making the knock out round as a bonus. Slovenia will try to impress again and make the knock out stages. I think the USA will finish with 4 points after beating Algeria and drawing with Slovenia, however, I think they finish second as Slovenia will finish with 2 points and Algeria with 1

Holland 2-USA 1

Alright, so my first post on my actual opinions is about to begin

First off, I'm a huge fan of the Dutch style of play and their flare so this game was a win-win for me no matter what happened. The Dutch played great and were the only team on the field in the first half. They dominated possession and more than deserved the lead at half. Some subs and then lake of desire at the end is what lead to the US goal and the attacking possession the US had in the last 10 minutes. Overall, the Dutch more than deserved the win and were clearly the better team. Elia, who I had the pleasure of watching for the first time, was a constant nuisance to the Americans and should have scored. Great young player. And Sneijder was his brilliant self in the middle, seemingly everywhere on the pitch.

On to the Americans who, needless to say, were not at their best today. Howard was of course brilliant in goal again making a great save on Van der Vaart toward the end. The goals were not his fault. The defense was shaky at best most of the game though DeMerit was strong in his defensive duties even if his touch is always a little heavy. It will be nice to have Onyewu back. Bocanegra was his normal self in the back and ended up scoring the only American goal. Spector on the right side played decently though we was left wanting for speed a few times by Elia and Robben. And his cross at the end was disappointing to say the least. Bornstein, who somehow played 80+ minutes, was just plain terrible. He was caught out for pace multiple times, pulled down Sneijder for the penalty and had the second goal bounce off of his chest. I think it is safe to say he lost his spot in South Africa. Pearce and Goodson came on in the second half and played decently. Goodson even made a nice acrobatic attempt off of a corner to almost tie the match. The midfield was non existent most of the game. The addition of Mo Edu in the second half was a great help. He played very well and in my opinion should be at South Africa. Torres didn't do much but did have that one glimmer or brilliance with a left footed blast from 30 yards that was dipping just a little late. Bradley was good defensively but was lacking in all other aspects of the game. His touch and passing was off and he looked out of place quite a few times. Donovan was very poor and only started making a difference once he was given freedom to roam (hint hint Bob Bradley). Holden looked good while he was in, I hope he comes back quickly. Beasley looked his old-self at times and looked poor at others, but I think his play earned him a closer look. Bedoya was a revelation for me. He played well, linking up with his teammates to create offensive possession and chances. He did look a little lost at times but it is only his second cap. Up top, we were once again poor. Not sure why Findley was even on the field cuz he didn't do anything at all. Altidore worked hard as usual but he can't do everything on his own. He has one great shot and one great move with the back heal but he needs more quality balls to his feet and better support from his mid field.

The Americans were second best for 80 minutes of the game and then came on in the last 10. I'm not sure if we put this up to two different US sides and the US can build off the last 10 or if it was cuz the Dutch thought the game was over and stopped really trying. Only time will tell.

Hello Everyone

Well hi there! This is my first time doing a blog and I am fairly excited. I have always had opinions about soccer and no one ever knows them so I decided to finally write them down. First off, I'm Zac. I'm 25 and have played soccer since I was a little kid. I'm a huge fan of the sport. My teams are the USA of course, along with Brazil, Cameroon, and Holland, with Barcelona and Arsenal being my club teams. Well anyway, I hope you enjoy my future postings and comment.