Hand of Clod(s)

sorry for the late update on results from the World Cup! have been down with flu, so recuperating is more important! hehe. okay, here are the results from the first round games played in Group C.



England 1-1 USA
the hype surrounding this team has been huge, and if anyone expected England to win the World Cup anytime soon, this year couldn't have been a better time. under the strict coaching of 'Don' Fabio Capello, the team have been disciplined and compact in playing style. the first match between England and the USA was supposed to be a sure-win match, but sadly, despite a breeze in the qualifying rounds en route to the 2010 World Cup, England were lucky not to lose the first game. surprisingly, 'Captain Marvel' Steven Gerrard put the Three Lions ahead in the 4th minute with a sublime strike past Tim Howard. England were then cruising and preserving their slender lead till USA striker Clint Dempsey unleashed a 'soft' strike at goal in the 40th minute. England 'keeper Robert Green was expected to catch that ball, and instead let it slip out of his hands and let it roll into the back of the net. this said, it definitely goes down as one of the worst goalkeeping howlers of the World Cup of all time. after that incident, England had a few chances to try winning the game but none took their chances well. OVERALL - it was a disappointing game. more was expected of England, yet they let their fans down time and time again. more improvement must be done if they are to win the trophy since 1966. but credit to USA too, for defending brilliantly, and also shackling talismanic England striker Wayne Rooney for most periods of the match.



Algeria 0-1 Slovenia
what are the chances of two teams in the same group committing a similar goalkeeping error? i could hardly believe it too, but that's exactly what happened to Algerian goalie Faouzi Chaouchi. Algeria had just been reduced to 10 men when Chaouchi fumbled a harmless looking 79th minute shot from Slovenia captain Robert Koren, allowing the ball to squirt through his arms into the bottom left hand corner of his net. six minutes earlier Algeria substitute Abdelkader Ghezzal was sent off for handball having already been booked. the attacking midfielder was only on the pitch for 15 minutes. both teams struggled with them much-criticized Adidas Jabulani ball, but Slovenia hung on for a fortuitous win. OVERALL - scrappy playing from both teams. shame about the howler. if not, Algeria could have gotten a point.