WHO DARES WINS

Group C: Slovenia 0 England 1 | Algeria 0 USA 1

Group D: Ghana 0 Germany 1 | Serbia 1 Australia 2

As a England fan, I was relieved that England managed to scrape 1-0 past a starkly inferior Slovenian side but even as the full-time whistle blew, over in the USA-Algeria game, Landon Donovan scored a late injury time to put the Americans in pole position in the group and consign the English to a second round encounter with the winner of Group D. Which as turns out is Germany, who defeated the Ghanaians rather fortuitously, it must be said. A mouth-watering prospect when one considers the great England-Germany World Cup matches of the past.

As a Spurs fan, I was pleased that it was Jermain Defoe who was England’s hero on the day, hopefully (for Defoe) erasing the terrible injustice of being left out of the 2006 squad due to the inclusion of the 16 year old Theo Walcott. Notably it was from a pin point cross delivered by James Milner in the true English style. England probably deserved to increase the scoreline with Rooney and Gerrard going close but Defoe’s goal proved decisive.

I must applaud the fighting spirit of the Americans once again, as they rescued their World Cup dreams, seconds away from elimination. The USA team never gave up and got their reward in the dying seconds of the game. The Ghana-USA match up will also be intriguing.

As for the Aussies and the Serbians, although they are out of the World Cup, both teams did their country proud and ultimately went down fighting (unlike say, the spoilt French brats – certainly the worst team in the competition.At least the Algerians played with pride, ironic when you realize the bulk of the Algerians are French-born!)