All over in Rustenburg. Shockingly poor stuff from England. They were terrible, but that is likely to be forgotten amidst the barrage of criticism that Robert Green will come in for what was a horrific mistake to hand USA a deserved equaliser. USA were decent, but if England can’t beat them, it doesn’t bode well for their overall prospects. That’s all from me for the evening folks. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for more world Cup coverage as well as a live tracker of the Munster Championship replay between Cork and Kerry. Full time in Rustenburg, England 1-1 USA.
England have had only one tactic since Crouch has come on and that’s long ball every time. That’s not working for them either, some drastic surgery needed if they are going to do anything in the tournament.
Time nearly up and USA have a corner, their first of the second half. One last hurrah perhaps?
Donovan lets fly in USA’s first effort on goal for quite a while, but it’s a good distance over the bar from about 25 yards.
Stuart Holden on in place of Jozy Altidore. Looks like USA are content to shut up shop.
Lennon pulls it back for Lampard but Onyewu does well to stop him getting his shot away. There is no cutting edge whatsoever to England’s attack.
If this is the best England have to offer then count them out of contention right now. Argentina weren’t perfect earlier on but they were different class compared to this muck.
Lampard attempts to give it to Johnson at right back but only succeeds in hitting it straight out of play. Shocking stuff from the England midfielder.
England piling on the pressure late on, Glen Johnson seeing plenty of the ball on the right wing and he’ll have a good target to aim at for the last ten minutes or so. Peter Crouch is on for Emile Heskey.
The delightfully named Edson Buddle replaces Robbie Findley for the USA.
Another good ball from Gerrard but it fell to the wrong man. Heskey’s header is a mile high and over the bar, but it was a tough chance and DeMerit got a touch on the cross before Heskey’s connection.
Rooney puts Wright-Phillips in on the keeper but the winger’s shot is weak and straight at Howard. Should have done better.
Robbie Findley with a nasty challenge on Steven Gerrard, digging his studs into the ankle of the England captain. England take the free kick quickly and Rooney goes close with a long range effort.
England fans try to gee up their team with a rendition of God Save the Queen but it can’t be heard above the din of the vuvuzuelas I’m sure you’re delighted to hear.
Gerrard finally injects some life into England with a magnificent cross but it’s just too high for Rooney who can’t direct it goalwards. Better from England.
Lampard with an extremely unconvincing free kick for England, high wide and anything but handsome. Sums up his and England’s night. If it stays like this the debate about whether he and Gerrard can play together is bound to rear its ugly head once again. On this evidence it would seem that they can’t.
Altidore so close to giving USA the lead. The Hull striker skins Carragher for pace down the left and lets fly after cutting inside. Green gets a hand to it and diverts it onto the post, the ball bounces in front of the goal but there’s no USA player there to take advantage. Let off for England.
After scoring his first goal for his country against Mexico recently, Glen johnson has a chance to add to his tally but snatches at a shot with his left foot while unmarked at the back post.
Bocanegra wins the header from Donovan’s free-kick but can’t direct it goalwards. Once again, England’s central defenders looking uncomfortable under the high ball.
Jamie Carragher with a rash challenge on Robbie Fidley and the Liverpool defender earns himself a yellow card. He hasn’t looked particularly comfortable since coming on. Hs mate Stevie G quickly follow him into the book with a dangerous high foot on the edge of the area. England suddenly looking very tentative after a bright start to the half.
Serious lack of pace at the heart of England’s defence. Won’t matter too much against USA, but if they are to go any further in the competition, they could be in trouble. I’d imagine David Villa and Fernando Torres would fancy their chances.
Whatever good Emile Heskey does for England, it’s certainly not scoring goals. One on one with Howard, all the big ‘striker’ can do is fire the ball straight at Howard, who in fairness, does very well to hold on to the ball. If it was Rooney in Heskey’s shoes, England would be ahead.
Rooney with a chance for England, clipping the ball over the keeper and following it up with a volley but its cleared off the line by a USA defender. Wouldn’t have counted anyway, flag was up all along. Capello’s half time talk must be ringing in the ears of the England players, they’ve been a lot better since the break.
Lennon pulls it back across the six yard box after great work down the right but its behind both Heskey and Rooney inside. Serious burst of pace from Lennon, went past the full back as if he wasn’t there.
Jamie Carragher on for Ledley King for England. King’s knee seems to have given up on him again, nothing going right for England.
RTE studio scathing of the England performance with particular criticism of the Gerrard/Lampard midfield axis and Heskey up front. Graeme Souness also suggests that this could be the end of Robert Green’s international career, which, given the experience of Paul Robinson in the past, might well prove to be true.
Half time in Capetown. What chance Joe Hart or David James replacing Rob Green at half time? Speaking of which, as pissed off and all as they are that England have conceded, the two boys on the bench must be secretly delighted. Unless Green has an amazing second half, he’ll probably be dropped for the rest of the tournament and one of them will get in. Or maybe I’m just a bit cynical.
How will England react to that setback? They had been quite poor since scoring the opener. The marquee names, Gerrard (first 10 minutes aside), Lampard and Rooney have all been anonymous.
A colleague of mine in the office says that Green looked like a binman fumbling around with some black refuse sacks. Can’t argue with that, comical stuff.
Oh, dear. An absolute shocking mistake from Rob Green who lets the ball slip through his fingers into the net. We’re talking Massimo Taibi like here, it really was that bad. His confidence will be in a matchbox for the rest of the game now.
GOAL!!! Dempsey 40 mins
Landon Donovan with a decent effort for the USA. Green dives dramatically to his left but it was always going wide.
Wright-Phillips has looked lively since he came on. He has an effort from 20 yards out but it goes well wide. Rooney has started to drop deeper and England are keeping the ball a lot better.
Lovely exchange between Ashley Cole and Wright-Phillips, but the full-back’s pull back is intercepted with Rooney waiting to pounce.
Pretty uninspiring stuff so far, particularly from an England point of view. USA seem to have settled better even if they are a goal behind.
Howard’s back on his feet and good to go. Altidore with another effort for USA but it’s weak and easy for Rob Green.
James Milner being taken off already and Shaun Wright-Phillips going on in his place. Milner, I don’t think had a touch, pretty embarrassing for the Villa man. Capello not normally a man for rash decisions.
Super ball by Glen Johnson across the six yard box and Howard dives bravely to push the ball away from danger. Heskey collided into him afterwards and he’s badly hurt. Wouldn’t you be if that lump clattered into you at full speed?
Onyewu gets his head to Donovan’s cross, but it’s wide by a distance. For two of the best headers of the ball in the Premiership, King and Terry have been very easily beaten in the air so far.
Milner gets a yellow card for England after fouling Cherundolo. The right back has been impressive for the Americans.
USA have responded well to going behind and have had the better of possession, no real threat on goal yet, however.
At the other end Lennon finds himself in the clear in acres of space. Doesn’t seem to know whether to shoot or cross and in the end does neither really. Cherundolo clears away.
Altidore should have scored for the USA. Super ball from Donovan from the right, Altidore leaps above King but makes very poor contact with a header from six yards and it bounces wide.
Cruncher of a tackle by Gerrard on Dempsey. The Liverpool man really making his presence felt so far.
Haven’t heard much of Robbie Findley, but he is a flyer. He muts have given Terry five yards headstart there and still comfortably beat the centre half in a sprint.
Clint Dempsey with a decent header for the USA but it bounces kindly for Green. Cracking pictures of Dempsey’s scantily clad missus in the papers today. She’s a beaut.
Problems with the ITV connection in JOE Towers. What do you expect from an eight inch TV with rabbit ears on top to provide a (dodgy at best) signal. We’ll have to make do with George Hamilton and Trevor Steven on RTE instead.
Well that didn’t take long did it. USA defence wide open, Heskey holds the ball up and slides Gerrard in. The England captain makes no mistake from eight yards.
GOAL!!! Gerrard 4 mins
Some technical faults occuring in JOE towers at the moment. Normal service to resume shortly.
They’re ready to go in Cape Town. All stand for God Save the Queen… joking, joking!
Trevor Steven makes an absolutely comical attempt to blow a vuvuzuela live on air. Musn’t have much air in his lungs, just like he doesn’t have much of a sense of humour, or much of a personality at all for that matter.
Speaking of nostalgia, it’s been less than fifteen minutes into the RTE coverage and they’ve already mentioned England’s embarrassing defeat to tonight’s opponents in 1950 three times. Incidentally, that was the last time these sides met in the competition. USA have the form then.
We’re refraining from watching the build up on ITV because frankly we’ve had enough of the English hype machine for the last couple of weeks. Will tune into it for the commentary though because we want to see whether Clive Tydlesley will win us a few quid by mentioning 1966 more than four times!
Emile Heskey scored less goals for Aston Villa last season (5) than Nigeria’s keeper Vincent Enyeama (9) did for Hapoel Tel-Aviv. Makes you think doesn’t it.
Rob Green gets the nod in goal for England, Gerrard and Lampard form what has been a much maligned central-midfield partnership in the past and Emile Heskey starts up front ahead of Peter Crouch.
England: Green, Glen Johnson, Terry, King, Ashley Cole, Lennon, Lampard, Gerrard, Milner, Heskey, Rooney.
USA: Howard, Bocanegra, Onyewu, Cherundolo, DeMerit, Bradley, Dempsey, Clark, Donavan, Altidore, Robbie Findley.
Evening folks and welcome to JOE’s coverage of England’s opening clash in the World Cup against the mighty yanks from the US of A. After weeks and weeks of listening to absolute non-stories on Sky Sports News, finally we have a chance to see what Capello’s boys are really like on the big stage. Kick off just under half an hour away. Team news to follow shortly.
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