World Cup: U.S. booters are no pushovers, after all

RUSTENBURG, South Africa —For England, drawing 1-1 with the United States in their opening game of the World Cup wasn’t a total disaster. It just felt like it.

The pundits had suggested that the Americans would be a pushover, fresh meat for the team of the Three Lions to feast on. “Easy," jingoistic tabloid The Sun had predicted.

Well, trash that front page. These Yanks proved as indigestible as the chewy sun-dried beef—biltong, the South Africans call it—that is a favored snack around these parts.

It wasn’t that the Americans were particularly tough—this wasn’t a stellar U.S. performance by any stretch of the imagination.

Rather, the England lions’ teeth are not as sharp as they thought they were. There are far more dangerous beasts out in the African bush than in this team where the outrageous talent of Wayne Rooney is tempered by obvious weaknesses that the World Cup will quickly expose, as they were Saturday night in the Royal Bafokeng stadium, which overlooks platinum mines.

The cringe-worthy handling error that will give England goalkeeper Robert Green night-sweats for years to come—he earned the tabloid headline “Hand of Clod" back home for gifting the US team the tying goal—was, in truth, just one of several England frailties that prevented it from getting better than a draw.

Given how they were outrun and even out-muscled at times by the Americans, England defenders John Terry, Ledley King and, from halftime, the sluggish Jamie Carragher will be overwhelmed by the better class opponents England will encounter later in the knockout stages of competition.

In midfield, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard seem determined to prove that two great talents don’t always combine well together. England attacks lacked conviction, with both Emile Heskey and Shaun Wright-Phillips failing to make the most of goal chances. Judging from this disjointed performance, England can forget about ending its 44-year wait for a second World Cup trophy.

More broadly, the result confirmed that the once large gap between the worlds of football and soccer is narrowing. Team USA and England are still two sides divided by a common language but no longer by vast gulfs of talent on the field. In 10 trans-Atlantic encounters, this was their first draw.

That made it a victory of sorts for the U.S. and for the thousands of fans who chanted “USA! USA!" long after English renditions of “God Save the Queen" had fallen into an uncomfortable silence.

Bob Bradley’s players can now feel more confident not only that they will reach the next stage of the competition but even, perhaps, that they could finish atop Group C.

The group winner is less likely to face mighty Germany in the next round. Because of this draw, England and the U.S. are now dead-heated in the race for that prize. The winner will be the team that does best against the other two nations in the group, Algeria and Slovenia.

England manager Fabio Capello made bold suggestions before this game that England could go all the way to the final on July 11. With potato-faced, goal-scoring star Rooney on Capello’s side, who was going to argue with him?

Well, lots more people now.

Most worrying for England is that it doesn’t have a decent goalkeeper.

Green was meant to do the job against the Americans. Instead, it looked like he was playing for them.

Those who weren’t celebrating in the stadium squirmed with embarrassment when he let Clint Dempsey’s shot wriggle out of his hands. Everyone, including Green, knew he should have stopped it. Green buried his head in the turf. He must have wished that it would swallow him up.

Bradley could hardly believe it. His open-mouthed look of “Is it Christmas, already?" said it all.

“A genuine mistake, a horrible mistake," Green said after he had showered. “It’s something that happens in life."

In life, perhaps, but not in the World Cup. Not if you want to win it.