Somewhat surprisingly, the USA prevailed as group winners of Group C. In the first game against England the Europeans were the determining team and took the lead in the 4th minute. But a capital mistake by England goalkeeper Robert Green just before half-time gave the USA the level when he let a harmless shot from Clint Dempsey roll into the goal. In the second game against Slovenia , the Americans showed enormous fighting spirit when they were able to make up a 2-0 deficit. Clint Dempsey even scored another goal, which the referee refused to recognize for foul play - a mistake. With the two points from the first two games, the USA had to win against Algeria to reach the round of 16. In a dramatic game the Americans were overwhelmingly superior, but could not score despite numerous chances. It was only in stoppage time that Landon Donovan scored the redeeming goal that brought the USA the group victory.
England had to improve after the draw with the USA. However, the English played an extremely weak game against Algeria and did not get beyond a goalless draw. So you had to tremble seriously about getting through before the last game. In the game against the Slovenes, the English showed over long stretches what was actually expected of them before the World Cup. However, their exploitation of chances was again insufficient. The narrow 1-0 win was deserved and was enough to move into second in the group in the second round.
Slovenia were only given outsider opportunities before the tournament. With a win against Algeria and a draw against the USA they led the table before the last group game and thus had an excellent starting position to advance. However, in the third game against England, the quality to prevail was lacking.
Algeria was the clear underdog in this group. Against England they achieved a respectable win with a draw, but the Algerians were too harmless offensively and could not score a single goal at this World Cup. As with their previous World Cup participation in 1982 and 1986, they were eliminated in the preliminary round.
A blackout by the English goalkeeper Robert Green cost England the victory at the start of the soccer World Cup in South Africa. The internationally inexperienced goalkeeper from West Ham United let a harmless low shot by Clint Dempsey roll past the spreading gloves to the final score of 1: 1 (1: 1) in the 40th minute . The USA screwed up the World Cup in Brazil in 1950 for England - at that time the blatant outsider even won 1-0. England's captain Steven Gerrard had put the 1966 world champion in the lead after just 4 minutes. In the end, the team stood behind goalkeeper Green.
United States
England
Slovenia
Algeria
1-0 Gerrard (4th)
Milner, Carragher, Gerrard
, Yebda
