Congratulations for dodgy goalkeeping

RUSTENBURG--The much-hyped match between the United States and England did not disappoint anyone who filed into Royal Bafokeng Park here.

The US may have been outnumbered 5:1 in fans inside the stadium, by a similar ratio when it comes to world-class players; however, the 1-1 result was all that mattered.

The clocks did not work on either end of the field, but just about everyone in the stadium had a sense of how much time was left in the two halves. A scoreboard was surplus to requirements as the noise in the stadium was the best indicator of not only which team won possession but who was closer to breaking the deadlock.

The television may have shown pictures different from what people inside this loud stadium witnessed, but it was a match where the result was deserved—even if the method in achieving it was not.

England dominated the game in the early going, exploiting space between the two American central defenders. Goalkeeper Tim Howard rightfully screamed at his defense for the lapse that allowed English captain Steven Gerrard to walk in and score on the Three Lions first shot of the game.

Howard eventually made his presence known with his commanding play in goal. The difference between Howard and fellow English Premier League goalkeeper Robert Green was stark—and the Americans I sat with made a point to mention that to the two English men who were in the row in front of us.

(Interestingly: another EPL player was in our midst. Sunderland defender Anton Ferdinand, whose brother Rio is the English captain, sat in the row in front of us watching the game with a handful of people from England. That’s Anton who is in the background in my picture after 90 minutes in Rustenburg.)

There were some disagreements about which team got the better of their opponent. But most people in the stadium said the result was a fair one. The U.S. only had two real scoring chances, but in the same context England had more opportunities and squandered them.

When the Brazilian referee finally blew the whistle to indicate the match was over there were handshakes from both sides—of fans—for a good job on the evening and wishes for good luck against the perceived minnows of the group Slovenia and Algeria.

Unfortunately the person who brought a sign indicating all the important victories over the English (1776, 1812 and 1950) will not have another date to add to his banner.

The solace in the draw may be the congratulations many American supporters received from South Africans and many soccer fans about how far the team has progressed since they last saw the stars and stripes at the Confederations Cup.