1950 all over again.
Rustenberg, South Africa.
World Cup 2010.
England.
The United States of America.
Problem.
Most of you who read me know how much I love and care about this country’s football. We’ve spent an inordinate amount of time on this site dealing with the USMNT, myself included. I attended the Gold Cup this past summer in Philadelphia and enjoyed that immensely. I’ve grown to feel a distinct interest in this country’s fortunes heading into World Cup 2010.
I also still love and cherish my homeland. It’s a deep-rooted love as I grew up and remember the failures of Sir Alf Ramsey after the ’74 debacle, the Don Revie era, Ron Greenwood, Sir Bobby, Terry Venables, Keegan’s short stint, Sven, Wally with the Brolly and now Don Fabio. It’s a long and storied, and somewhat sad to be honest, history with England’s national side.
I’ve never had to deal with worrying about these two sides competing in a truly meaningful game. There have been friendlies over the years in which I’ve had some anxious moments, but for the most part I’ve been able to keep them separate in my mind. Then the draw happened for 2010 and all that changed. I know now that on June 12, I will be spending two hours with fingers crossed for both sides, hopeful that both sides play well in their openers, hopeful that both sides perform as expected. You may be wondering am I hoping for a draw. No. I am not. I hope there is a winner for a number of reasons. I want the side that would gain three points to go through, since I want both sides to make it to the knockout phase. For the loser, I want them to realize what type of competition they are in. Both have thrived lately with their backs against the wall, so it would not bother me to see one come out of the first game in that situation. It will not bother me in the least if there is a winner and a loser, assuming both sides play well and compete hard.
Still, though, don’t think for one second this won’t be hard for the ex-pats in this country. I’m not even the only one in my home crew here that feels the same way about this match. This was not a draw that we were hoping for in the least. My English ex-pat compatriots here were counting on a huge World Cup from the homeland and did not want it to come at the expense of the United States. Oh, and for those who spent most of the week after the draw saying how favourable it was to both sides, be aware that Slovenia and Algeria are both extremely talented and will be difficult to beat. Obviously, there could have been stronger sides in the group than those two, but Slovenia knocked a strong Russian side out of the Euro playoffs and Algeria eliminated the African champions in by beating Egypt. Neither should be considered as “easy”. That, of course, puts even more pressure on both sides in this first game.
The buildup will be tremendous, the matchup will be amazing, and the result…well. The result will be deterministic of fortunes in the most important competition in world football.
