Quick Reaction to USA-England Draw

Well.....the most hyped game in USA Soccer history has ended.

And England isn't to pleased with the result. Its funny how both the U.S. and England get a point and the same result, yet one team found great confidence going forward(USA) and the other feels the heat and is completely deflated by the result(England). I've already seen some of the reaction by England fans, claiming the result was luck and nothing else due to Robert Green's fumble in the goal. But I think U.S. fans can make the same argument about Stephen Gerrard's goal. If Wayne Rooney does not mishandle that pass by Gerrard the whole sequence would not have occurred.

Its completely irrelevant anyway. This is the world cup and nobody really cares about your ranking. At the end of the day what matters is who puts the ball in the back of the net. Credit to underdogs like the USA, South Africa, and especially South Korea for ignoring what should happen on paper and focus on what happens on the field.

The game between the USA and England will continue though. I very much expect both teams to win their next two games and advance, but whoever comes out with the better +/- ratio on goals will win the group. So every goal matters from here on out.

The USA can take the confidence they've instilled within themselves from this game and really make an impact on this world cup that they have struggled to do in previous cups. Obviously we have quickly learned in just the first two days of this world cup that nobody can be taken lightly. So Slovenia and Algeria must be taken seriously. With that said, I believe the USA will be very hot going into those games.

As for the English. What can I say? I fully expected the USA to compete with the Brits. I know every English fan out there thought they would win 4-0. Hell, I heard ESPN's British correspondent(Not Martin Tyler) with Mike Tirico say he thought England could win 9-0! Nine to freaking nothing! If that doesn't illustrate how good the English think they are, I don't know what will. The Brits think this is a tragedy, I think they just lost to a good football team. I guess its their choice how they want to perceive it. From my point of view, their world cup championship chances were minimal to begin with.

In closing, I'll just say this. Despite what anyone thinks about the U.S. soccer team, we continue to put up results. This Bob Bradley team has beaten Spain, lost a nail bitter to Brazil, and tied with England. I'd say that's quite the improvement made in just one year. Tonight the English will cry but the U.S. fans can bask in the joy of tying with England and look forward to possibly winning Group C.

Those are my quick unedited thoughts about today's game. Until later, enjoy Sunday's games! Be sure to visit the blog later today as Noe will likely post an in-depth analysis from today's USA-England game.

---