Green howler and England held
Posted: Jun 12 2010
England and the USA played out an entertaining 1-1 draw in their 2010 World Cup Group C match at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg on Saturday night.
Steven Gerrard slotted home after just four minutes as he was played behind the USA defence by Emile Heskey, before a howler from Robert Green allowed a tame Clint Dempsey shot to somehow elude him.
Green appeared to have the ball covered and he went down for a routine save, but inexplicably only managed to palm the ball over the line.
And you could not say that the USA did not deserve the point. Jozy Altidore heading wide when he should have scored, and Landon Donovan saw his effort from outside the area go just wide.
Oguchi Onyewu also headed wide from a good position, while England coach Fabio Capello decided to remove James Milner from the game after just 30 minutes after the Aston Villa man was caught all at sea on a number of occasions by Steve Cherundolo.
Emile Heskey had a glorious chance to put England back ahead when he found himself one-on-one with USA goalkeeper Tim Howard, but the Everton stopper stood firm to block the shot.
Carlos Bocanegra headed over a Landon Donovan free-kick, while at the other end, Frank Lampard saw his long-range shot tipped over by Howard. From the resultant corner, Glen Johnson fired wide.
Altidore out-striped the English defence and found himself one-on-one with Green, but this time the England keeper made a superb save onto the post to keep his side level.
Rooney was inches wide from 30-yards, while Howard saved well from Shaun Wright-Phillips, and neither side could find a winner.
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: 2010-06-13 05:45
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