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How much should England really expect against the USA?

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Ben Sutherland Ben Sutherland | 12:25 UK time, Saturday, 12 June 2010

englandflag.jpgEvery four years - or in fact every two, given it happens with the European Championships too - pretty much every media publication in the country will use the headline "England expects" somewhere in their copy.

It's a nice phrase - it certainly worked pretty well for Admiral Horatio Nelson some 185 years ago - but it is rarely a reflection of the truth. And it certainly shouldn't be applied to the first match of the Three Lions at a major tournament - the 2010 World Cup version of which is today against the USA.

Because if anything, history tells us that the best England fans should expect in their first game is a draw.

In the years I've been watching football - Mexico 1986 being the first World Cup I can remember - England have started 10 tournaments. In that time, they've won just two opening games, against Tunisia at France '98 and Paraguay in Germany four years ago - and that second was a lucky result, courtesy of an own goal.

The rest reads like the most disappointing series of openings since the Star Wars prequels. Defeat to Portugal at Mexico '86. Defeat to the Irish Republic in Euro '88. Then a series of draws - with the Irish Republic again at Italia '90, with Denmark at Euro '92, and with Switzerland at Euro '96 - that last on home turf at Wembley.

Then - finally - a win, against Tunisia at France '98, before another dismal run: defeats to Portugal and France sandwiching a draw with Sweden in Japan.

Of course, in some of those tournaments England went on to improve - in some cases, immensely so - but there are 30-year-old Citroen 2CVs that start better.

None of this, of course, has stopped the media hype here in England. With the backdrop of the ongoing - and serious - rows between BP and Barack Obama's administration over the Louisiana oil spill, there is a fair amount of America-baiting in the English press today.

Indeed, one national newspaper is even running a TV campaign in England where they put another gold star above the England badge.

I was debating this with my colleague Dave Lee, who is part of the BBC Sport website team. Dave is a little younger than I am, and is full of optimism for today's game against the United States.

When I pointed out England's rather dismal record in these matches, his response was,

"I'm the kind of fan who straps a flag to his back and prays."

Many fans will feel exactly the same - there are flags everywhere you look in London - but I find watching England is not even fun any more, more 90 minutes of controlling the nervous tension.

Of course, in a few hours' time we'll know who's been proved right. But I - and World Cup Have Your Say in general - would be interested to know what the situation is where you are.

Does the press in your country (which can include England!) put too much pressure on the national team? Or is stirring up patriotic fervour all part of the fun of the World Cup?

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    Listen.....we want a very good begining in this World Cup with a clear win over the USA. Please giv me(us) a chance to cheer for england(i didn watch 1966 world cup..i wasn even born that year....lol).
    Good Luck Capello and the CREW.
    ish,kathmandu,Nepal..(eagerly waiting for the game)

  • Comment number 2.

    Am i the first person to comment.......(i hav got anyhting for that....lol.i don need anyhting, i want a win over the USA today.......a very good begining for england and for us too)

  • Comment number 3.

    How is one supposed to watch the World Cup with that dreadful drone of bees comming out of the TV - it is driving me mad already and its only day 2 - is it possible to get subtitles so I can continue with the sound off but have a bit of a clue about what is happening on the pitch ? Max

  • Comment number 4.

    As a neutral, I usually hope for the underdog to win, but this time I don't think they'll do it. USA will win 2-1 or 3-1.

  • Comment number 5.

    King of the Twittersphere Stephen Fry summed it up: the potential embarrassment of England losing to the USA is far greater than the potential glory of winning.

  • Comment number 6.

    It all depends on how much the supporters back home get behind the team. There are many songs which everyone can sing along to - one of which is here www.newworldcup2010.co.uk - some of them are even worth listening to!

    Come on England!

  • Comment number 7.

    As long as Mick McCarthy isn't commentating I don't mind what the score is.

  • Comment number 8.

    Come on England Team, you can do it! Yes, u r the ones to fighting @ batllefield, but u r not at ur own, we millions are at the back right from the stadium to country or across. Come on we can do it, let's do it!

  • Comment number 9.

    It's the usual predictable yawnfest.

    The English collectively, are like Ch*lsea;They can't win with any grace or manners, in the main.
    And the arrogant & patronising BS in their media about S.Africa and the World Cup has to be seen to believed.

    That's Why they'll Never be universally loved or respected.

  • Comment number 10.

    ITV screwed it up again. While England were scoring the first goal, we were treated to a commercial and a blank screen on the ITV HD channel!! Did this happen also on ITV Terrestrial??

    Seem to recall ITV doing something similar in a cup game in the last couple of years?

  • Comment number 11.

    I hate football and am sick of the whole thing being rammed down my throat every day. When will this wretched thing be over and real life come back? Some people really don't like sport and we're the ones being actively ostracised whilst this mania continues. Heaven help us when the ridiculous Olympics come to blight our lives ...

  • Comment number 12.

    Is it just me or is watching games totally ruined by the incessant monotone of the horns? This abberation ruins the spectacle, suppresses any impression of the atmosphere and surely cannot be sustained for the rest of the competition?
    Probably nothing can be done about it but with the wonders of modern tech maybe the noise pollution can be edited out to reveal the true atmosphere of football...
    I've paid a lot of money for a HD TV service and this is worse than the good old days of intereference on MW radio.

  • Comment number 13.

    You had a feeling it was on the cards. English have developed their conversational skills so much that it has now started to hurt them. Robert green was too busy thinking about the drawing room conversations about him keeping a clean sheet; and he could not look stupid by falling down for such a tame shot. His peers will slaughter him for looking so clumsy.
    If I was Capello I would shut out Green and Milner from the outside world, have a ten minute session with all the players asking them to ket their anger out and then I will put the matter to a close and move on. Helping all to keep faith.

  • Comment number 14.

    Well, so much for England and their village level soccer. They promise so much and deliver so little. The good news is that I can spend the next month enjoying summer and not watching them play 3rd rate soccer.

  • Comment number 15.

    A pathetic display from a team that could and should have done better. I had high hopes of a final appearance but now it is clear that that was a total fantasy and that this England team is doomed to failure like all those before them. A one man team is clearly worthless in this competition.

  • Comment number 16.

    useless england. time to go home.

  • Comment number 17.

    well done usa

  • Comment number 18.

    hi ben, i want your profile pic(on the top left of this page)changed.the pic looks so happy, but we are not..............

  • Comment number 19.

    They should be able to expect the ITV to show the whole game including Englands goal without some rubbish excuse of an apology during half time!!

  • Comment number 20.

    I saw the bodies but where were the team and players?
    What is it with the high ball?
    SAD

  • Comment number 21.

    England gelled quite well as a team & performed okay considering WC opening matches can be notoriously difficult to negotiate. I think it's important for any team not to peak too early prior to or in the early stages of tournaments. As disappointing as it is not to win, it's a result that can be built on. Also, the American's are no footballing mugs. They're an experienced & well drilled & compact unit who play for one another & they won't be overawed or intimadated by more technically gifted opposition.

  • Comment number 22.

    I expected England to make a mess of it and draw against USA though not quite the manner of the goal. I expected Heskey to miss easy chances but he did OK besides. I expected King to be slow and unfit. I was disappointed in Milner but I think he was still unwell. I was disappointed too that Rooney took until the 70th minute to get going. I did expect Crouch to make a difference and he did just that but he did not get enough time to do so.
    So I expect England to beat Algeria and then a showdown in the last group game as usual. Exit last 16 at the hands of Germany or Serbia though not necessarily on penalties. Suits me. I just remember 1966 but I was very young. I do not expect England to win another tournament in my lifetime and I will not be disappointed in that. Better to be realistic.

  • Comment number 23.

    That was utter rubbish from England a disgrace.

  • Comment number 24.

    By all means, support England, i certainly will be over here in Canada, just don't expect *too* much.

  • Comment number 25.

    1805 - Admiral Nelson: "England expects...."

    2010 - England Fans: "Could you just try not to embarrass the country so much...."

  • Comment number 26.

    Good old ITV.

    I was watching on ITV HD via freesat when after 4 minutes the transmission suddenly went to an Hyhundai car advert only to return to the action as Gerrard slides away in celebration of his goal. Did any one else suffer this error missing the goal in live action?

    It was identical to the ITV fiasco a couple of years ago in the Everton v Liverpool FA Cup tie when they skipped to an advert nea r the end of extra time and missed the winning goal. ITV is a very poor second to BBC in my view.

  • Comment number 27.

    if they cant beat the u.s over 80 mins they do not deserve to be there so far all the games in the world cup have been mediocre

  • Comment number 28.

    I didn't realize Bill Buckner was playing goal for England.

  • Comment number 29.

    The funniest excuse I am hearing is the ball was slippery.....(no comments)

  • Comment number 30.

    Maybe, just maybe...England will continue to draw or get gubbed in future game(s) and then we can enjoy the rest of the Football World Cup unhindered by the 1966 boring, patronising, colonial ingerland crew...puleeeese!!!!!

  • Comment number 31.

    My English friends, take heart from the 1-1 result against arguably the strongest opponent from this Group. Remember the 3 most successful major tournaments for England started in draws as well... WC1966 (0-0 draw vs. Uruguay), Italia90 (1-1 draw vs. Ireland) and Euro96 (1-1 draw vs. Switzerland).

    2 group games to go, come on England!!

  • Comment number 32.

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

  • Comment number 33.

    American living in England. My impression is that all my English friends expected to win the US/UK game and are disappointed they didn't. That's a bit of a laugh considering the standings of said 'sprouts'.

  • Comment number 34.

    So super- duper England are going to win the world cup, on last nights performance i wouldn't count on it. Three Lions! - more like Three Donkeys.

    Bring on Slovenia, and lets see those smug grins and unrealistic delusions of greatness finally removed from those faces...

    USA - All the way...!

  • Comment number 35.

    Okay, now we know. England are as useless as they always are. Now would be a good time to bring this bunch of losers home and save some money. Every competition we enter, we have players injured even before anything begins, we play 'players' who are not fit, we have no real idea of why we are there. We are a joke.

    Okay, to be fair. I can't stand football. The few British players there are are over rated, over paid, and quite frankly, a waste of space. But then, as clubs seem to want to play more foreign players, why should we expect anything different.

  • Comment number 36.

    It was a blunder from Robert Green, and I'm sure that he feels bad, but the trouble was that a number of Englands players didn't play well. Lennon can't cross won't cross kept up his dismal attempts to play international football, he's ok as a league player, but has never made the step up.Rooney and Gerrard drifted in and out of the game and the useally reliable Chelsea trio at times looked like they didn't know were they were or what they where doing.
    I still think that England can win the cup, but some of Mr Capellos' men need a serious kick up the jacksy, at the end of the day we were lucky we weren't playing a top class team ( I know the yanks aren't bad BUT ), we would have been using a computor to work out how we could recover. So lets not be to down hearted put this cock up behide us move on and bring that big gold blob home. COME ON ENGLAND

  • Comment number 37.

    The question being asked should have been "Just how good/poor are England?".

    If Emile Heskey is making England (beaten a only few months ago in competition by Greece) look like a professional outfit then we should know there are problems. "England expects" is still far too high. The USA almost repeated the first goal as the keeper once again failed to hold a terrific strike but was saved only by the post. Had this been one foot further to the left there would have been no post to halt the goal. Green did make other remarkable saves as a USA Soccer side barely able to string three passes together, made the English team look very ordinary. I can only hope a better England team appear for the Slovenian game who have recently beaten Russia and Poland.

    We should all be rejoicing that England held onto a point on Saturday.

  • Comment number 38.

    Will rationality raise its ugly head just once during a football tournament involving England. I mean if you take the view(which if it's rational) that based on previous history and current performance England are not one of the tournament favourites, outside the rarified atmosphere of a TV studio or newspaper office. They do not have anything like the best group of players in the World; what they do have is a shrewd and professional Italian as coach. Therefore one can deduce that Englands best hopes of victory or even further progression lies in emulating Italy:i.e. by being seriously lucky, and having the class to score when it matters/

  • Comment number 39.

    All the postings here are "awaiting moderation". Ha, ha. That's becaause they're controlling how we're supposed to think about the 1-1 result with the Yanks. The truth is that it's not the mistake by the England goal keeper, it's the fact that England couldn't beat America at football and were, at times, out-played by them and were equal to them. This was supposed to be Manchester United meets Kidderminster Town with super star Wayne Rooney. The Yanks made him invisible. He did nothing. World class? Ha, ha, ha. The other teams in the group will see England as a soft touch and the other major teams will see tham as the joke they are.

  • Comment number 40.

    Lay of Green, He's only a young lad! It takes time for keepers to grow.
    Concentrate on the real reasons England never win anything. 1- Our squad is cobbbled together from players who aren't first team choices for their clubs and others that are crocked or past it! 2. Our Players (particulary the wingers) rely on shear pace but are bereft of any skill and guile. The only exceptions are Gerrard, who has an abundance, Rooney (who failed to perform) and Lampard (who always is conspicuous by his absence in big games).
    Historically - since 1970 in major tournaments we've had four wins over class teams;-France 1982, Holland and Spain Euro 1996 and Argentina 2002.
    Four big wins in roughly 18 tournaments!
    Leave the keeper alone, were just useless!

  • Comment number 41.

    I watched the match here in Washington, DC at the British Embassy, and while the match was a draw, the England fans appeared upset, where as the USA fans were basically acting like it was a victory. I guess not many expected this result.

  • Comment number 42.

    what if england play draw with Slovenia?

  • Comment number 43.

    The covearge is , I=in my opinion, poor. The sound is awfull - can't you cut out thaqt terrible sound coming from the people who play the plastic "trumpets"? It is ruining the sound. Also, the cameras are poor at increasing the exposure (aperture) when the ball moves form being in sunshne to being in shade. I have never waqtched so little of a world cup - because of these 2 issues.

  • Comment number 44.

    I love the disparity between the build-up and the actuality. As the old tagline had it, "All human life is here.."

    In some ways, the England fiasco against the USA epitomised our national failings: after four minutes, our destiny seemed bright and clear, we were born to win and to rule; less than 40 minutes later, we were on a downer, thanks to an unfortunate goalkeeper who will for ever be known as "Butterfingers"!

    Let's face it, if we can even beat the USA at soccer, we ain't got much of a chance on the international stage with much else!

  • Comment number 45.

    Here's some tips for Slovenia and Algeria (and anyone else who plays England): Just let England score a goal really early on in the game. They'll panic as they always do when they go in front, and you can easily score as they run around like headless chickens. They never have the courage or skill to press for more goals and they just end up defending deep. Don't worry about losing the ball - you'll get it back pretty quickly. England haven't figured out that you're supposed to pass to someone in the SAME COLOUR shirt. Don't worry if Heskey gets the ball in the penalty area on his own. Your goalie can finish his cigarette and take a drink whilst someone gets the ball down from Row Z where he'll have booted it. And don't worry about their Italian coach. The team won't learn anything from him, and he's only there for the zillions of pounds that the FA are paying him. England haven't even got enough national pride to use a home-grown manager despite the fact that NO TEAM has EVER won the WC with a foreign coach. Come on Slovkia!! (Well I've got them in the office sweep!!)

  • Comment number 46.

    What i don't understand is this - a game of two halfs? So why could the great (or so i'm told by the BBC ITV and Sky 25 hours a day) "YAWN" Could not score a goal in the 2nd half to win the match? Or is that to much for your brain to take? So i will tell you, NOT GOOD ENOUGH! Got it. And that was the yanks you were playing. Got it now!

  • Comment number 47.

    The rest of the world will put us down- so we English don't need to. For reasons of their own, other countries will either love or loathe us.

    Supporting the England football team is not about 'having a go at them'; they cannot be expected to win everything, and let's face it- no-one in England actually REALLY expects them to. But... we HAVE won the World Cup before, we DID invent the game of Football (and develop it), we CAN beat Germany, Italy, Argentina, Brazil, and even Spain- which is perhaps more than the USA and most others can ever dream of! The sport is our gift to the world. Without it, what else would there be? (American Football, I guess).

    Colonial England is a thing of the very distant past, and we have very little knowledge of it ourselves, as we are taught these days to be ashamed of our empire-building ancestors. But that doesn't mean that we have to listen to a few English-haters from predictable places putting us down. And we should (at last) cease this fairly recent national habit of moaning about ourselves. You know- England might beat Germany, or even surprise us all by doing even better than that.

    Anyone who follows football will remember that we are normally quite inept against lesser teams (no disrespect to them) but give a good game to the top teams of the world. This IS infuriating to the English football fan... but at least we have a chance. And hey- Italy etc haven't been great either- but they're all likely to play much better next time too.
    See you in the final, USA? Scotland?

  • Comment number 48.

    Well, this simply was a deserved 1-1... But england is not 'rubbish', as some disappointed commentators here claim. England is in the WC, so it is in top 32. But indeed, nothing mre than that. Not rubbish, but simply average, with (on this level) average players (Rooney can not compete with the real top players, by far). That's all. So, this 1-1 draw was all that could be expected, and disappointments are only caused by too high expectations rather than poor performance of the team. And for that we can't blame the media, but our collective 'madness' and inability to see reality when it comes to footbal.

  • Comment number 49.

    This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

 

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