USA vs. England soccer friendly @ 3 PM ET

[Burr]

http://www.ussoccer.com/images/mediaworld/img_6_4413.gif

First meeting against them on U.S. soil since the incredible 2-0 victory by the Americans in the 1993 U.S. Cup. Watch it today on ESPN or Telemundo. Should be a rockin' good time in Chicago.

[Regole]

I'll try and watch it, I'll be over at a friend's house though and we'll probably be playing games.

[Arandar]

Heh are they calling that win in 93 the Miracle on the Pitch? :razz:

I have to go to work within a half hour though so I can't really watch it, plus I'm on here so that kind of ruins it as well. I don't know what it is though but I never really showed much interest in actually watching soccer. Even though I played the game since like kindergarden or first grade for 12-15 years, I just got bored watching it on tv. I'll watch for a little bit, but I don't think I could sit there for the 3 hours or whatever that it takes for the game to start and finish. I hope they win though.

[Burr]

England was basically a one man show getting two goals from Kieran Richardson. The first came from a perfect free kick over the wall and into the corner after an ill-advised foul in prime real estate just a few minutes into the game. Then near the end of the half the U.S. defense had a brain fart and failed to pick up the late man on the other side after a throw-in.

Landon Donovan blew two opportunites at tying the game at 1-1 by first clanging a curving free kick off the post and then missing the far post by inches on another run up the right side of the box after a perfect setup from ex-Mutiny player Steve Ralston and Josh Wolff. It wasn't until the second half that USA really took over and Dempsey headed a goal in off a rebound from the England goalkeeper to break the shutout. They created several more opportunities to equalize after that in the final 10 minutes or so but it was to no avail.

Final score was a 2-1 loss for the Americans, but this game was for the taking. If only we had Damarcus Beasley and Claudio Reyna in the game I think we would have claimed it easily (some real bad passing and lack of creativity completely stymied us for most of the match), but England had their B-team as well. I think both teams can be somewhat happy with the result. Clearly the Brits have more depth than we do, but it was still a respectable finish.

Next up a World Cup qualifier (a game that actually counts) against Costa Rica in Salt Lake City next Saturday.