The World Looks in it's Rear View and Has a Heart Attack

England, United States, Slovenia, Algeria. Watch out everybody, here come the yanks.

It's hard to argue that this is anything but the ideal draw for the United States.

I had the feeling we would get England, and I'm really excited about the matchup. Think about it...how many storylines will the media come up with?

Opening match of Group C: USA v England Rematch of the legendary "miracle on grass" of the 1950 world cup where we upset the English 1-0

"Father vs Son" matchup ? You've got ESPN analyists coining phrases such as "Party like its 1776"

So, what are our chances against the English?

Well, obviously they're the seeded team in the group, so they're supposed to provide the stiffest competition. Let's break this matchup down a little bit further.

History: -USA's record vs England is 2-7-0, with the last competitive match coming in our 1950 WC upset. -England historically chokes, and chokes HARD, in the World Cup

Facts:

-England's cornerstones are getting old (Becks, Terry), and they have some gaping holes (who the hell is their 1st choice goalkeeper? How about Left Back?)

-The US has the comfort of having played in Rustenburg this past summer, beating Egypt 3-0 to advance to the Semifinal of the Confederations Cup, where we upset #1 ranked Spain.

-Our training facility and hotel is the best of the best (Spain and Brazil used them during the Confederations Cup this summer), and while this does not seem like a big deal to the common fan, think about it. How much of a difference does it make to you when you get a good nights sleep in a comfortable place vs a bad nights sleep in an uncomfortable place? A well rested and mentally relaxed team vs an poorly rested and mentally tense team can drastically effect the outcome of the game. How much does training on a game-like pitch help in your preparations, as compared to training on a poor pitch, which will disrupt practice and won't simulate game conditions.

Key Matchups: Onyewu/DeMerit vs Rooney: Can our center backs hold off the ugliest striker in the world? (ok, hes pretty good too) Donovan vs Cole: Donovan wins, hes faster and more athletic

Dempsey vs Lennon: This one scares me. Dempsey's lack of defensive accountability and Lennon's attacking prowess could be trouble

Lampard/Gerrard vs Bradley/Jones: We're obviously overmatched, but our two CMs can certainly play with these guys, and hopefully the chips fall our way in this instance.

Altidore/? vs Terry/Ferdinand: Hopefully the remainder of the EPL season will provide young Jozy with enough experience to be able to break down this veteran duo.

Wild Card: Tim Howard It's written in stone that if Tim Howard is in his top form, we WILL NOT be scored on. He has proven that he is a top class goalkeeper and if he performs to his capabilities, he will keep us in this game, and hopefully keep the clean sheet and give us the chance at the W

Realistically Speaking....

I'm thrilled with a draw here. 0-0 would be best, to keep the goals against down (tie breaker). With the draw, we just have to outperorm the English against Slovenia and Algeria and we'll take the #1 spot in group C, ideally avoiding a round of 16 clash with Germany and probably giving us Serbia or Australia.

At this point I'm not familiar enough with either Slovenia or Algeria to provide any sort of credible analysis, however I do feel that they should both result in victories for the United States based purely on class. We have played so many big games over the past year against so many quality opponents that I feel we will simply outclass these two teams into wins. 6 points there and a point against the English gives us 7 total, and sees us through to the knockout stages.

Stay tuned for new posts about the US roster for next summer, where to watch the world cup this summer, and a critical review of the new jersey we'll be rockin (I'm not impressed)