England has been coasting with 5 minutes to go to the interval in their first World Cup finals game under Fabio Capello. But then an all too familiar situation struck as another goalkeeping howler cost England the victory against the United States of America.
It all started so well for England as some neat passing led to Emile Heskey playing the ball into space for Captain Steven Gerrard, who led by example all night, allowing him to sweep the ball past Everton's Tim Howard after just 3 minutes. It was a goal that will have delighted the England fans, or at least those fans who were privileged enough to see Gerrard's fourth minute strike as ITV HD cut to adverts only for the picture to return with the three lions celebrating the goal.
The rest of the half was fairly straight forward without any clear cut chances for either side, although former Hull man Jozy Altidore could have done better after a delicious ball was whipped in by Landon Donovan. That was until the 40th minute when a speculative Clint Dempsey effort from 25 yards seemingly proved no threat as every English fan expected usually solid West Ham goalkeeper Robert Green to save it comfortably. However time stood still as Green fumbled the shot and juggled it into his own net.
The anguish on Green's face was clear through the ITV replays which highlighted just how poor the error was. It was quite an achievement for Green to out do the errors made by David Seaman, Paul Robinson and Scott Carson, but he has managed it prompting huge question marks over whether Capello will continue to use Green as his number one, with David James and an eager Joe Hart waiting in the wings.
Despite Green's error England still had a whole half of football to bail the West Ham stopper out, but it was the Americans who came closest to adding another goal as Jozy Altidore's shot forced Green into actually making a save, as he pushed the ball onto his cross bar. The closest England came to winning the game fell to a man who most England fans would have prayed didn't have a one on one situation; Emile Heskey. It was one of the few occasions in the second half where the Americans were truly carved open by England as Heskey raced through with only Howard to beat. However the Aston Villa man, who scored just 3 goals last season, placed his shot straight at the Everton goalkeeper and in truth, Heskey never looked confident leading up to the chance.
England however, with the exception of Steven Gerrard and too an extent Emile Heskey, were largely poor as they chose to play more directly using Heskey as an outlet rather than trying to work the ball through midfield. Wide players failed to impose themselves on the game as Tottenham's Aaron Lennon seemed reluctant to take on his man, whilst Shaun Wright- Phillips frequently tried to go past his man to no avail due to his one dimensional style, prompting question marks over Capello's decision to introduce Wright Phillips in favour of Joe Cole when James Milner was withdrawn in the first half as the Villa midfielder had been attempting to play despite illness.
If England are to have a chance of the World Cup, which at this point seems highly unlikely, they are going to have to improve greatly to compete, as their performance in Rustenburg tonight will certainly not cause the Brazilians or the Spanish any sleepless nights.
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