STEVEN GERARD

Steven Gerard brought plenty of joy to the English Fans that outnumbered their American counterparts in this first game at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg. He was able to make some space in front and take a great shot at goal four minutes into the game. The English team was able to keep their advantage until 5 minutes before the halftime break when Clint Dempsey made what seemed like an easy shot into the English goal. And then it happened. The official ball, Jabulani, made an interesting bounce before it reached greens hands and then just somehow pass him by the side and into the goal.

Let's face it. This is not the first time these kinds of situations happen among English goalkeepers. Let's face this other fact too. Goalies from all around the globe mess up once in a while. It's no professional secret that this is one of the most ungrateful positions to play in the sport of soccer. But it is also no secret (just do a bit of searching in Youtube if you want further proof) that the English keeper's have this tendency of messing up.

Be it David Seaman, Paul Robinson, Scott Carson, or Robert Green, they have all had their fare share of almost blooper like soccer performances. But this is just one of the few that have come in a World Cup scenario. If you are into statistics, check this one out. Robert Green, made four errors that ended up in a goal during this last 2009-2010 Premiere League season. That is more then any other goalkeeper playing in the League.

Fabio Capello, the Italian-born head coach of the English squad, will probably be sitting down Green in the bench for Englands next game against (rellenar, no sé con qué). The English team, had the ball 57% of the time. They were the dominating team, but, although the American team couldn't bring really dangerous plays into the English defensive area, the English team, including Wayne Rooney and Emile Heskey, just couldn't break pass the Team USA's defense.

There were some high expectations for the English team in this World Cup. Sure enough they have had trouble with injuries. They are missing captain Rio Ferdinand and offensive midfielder David Beckham because of injury. Still, their performance was not too impressive. Betting odds on the English team were fairly high to win this game. Team USA was not really expected to be a threat to English domination. But it seems that either the Americans are playing above what was expected of them, or the English team is in serious need of some adjustments if they truly expect to make some noise in this World Cup.