main

DispatchesUnited States

USA v Slovenia, June 18-Ellis Park

July 6, 2010 — by Larry

Ellis Park

[Editor’s note: The latest installment in Coach Larry’s series of dispatches from South Africa takes us back to the dramatic USA v Slovenia game of June 18.]

After the easiest trip ever yesterday [June 17], which allowed for a quick 10 minute roulette session (single 0), today our hosts decide to switch it up.  We are dropped in downtown Sandton to catch a shuttle, at any of many numerous stops, which will take us to another shuttle.  We decide to leave early, as we hope to experience more of the atmosphere around this crucial match.  The extra time proves useful, as no police or locals have any knowledge at all about the location of these bus stops.  Within 30 minutes, the two of us now have 8 friends, all looking for “the stop for the shuttle to the shuttle to the park”.  A couple of Germans, one wearing a Frings kit, wave down a minibus taxi instead.  Nine of us pile in, the people already in it get out, and the driver agrees to take us all the way to the stadium.

Located much more in the city, say like Queens, the hills of Johannesburg prevent us from even glimpsing the light stanchions of Ellis Park before being dropped off.

Group SummariesVideo

Group C Summary – England/USA/Algeria/Slovenia

June 23, 2010 — by Suman

Scenario Analysis:

Here’s who advances in each of the 9 possible outcomes of this morning’s 2 matches:


 USA win USA draw USA loss
ENG win USA & ENG ENG & SVN ENG & SVN
ENG draw USA & SVN SVN & ? SVN & ENG
ENG loss USA & SVN SVN & USA SVN & ALG

(?: if both games end as draws, both USA & ENG will finish with 3 points.  The tiebreaker is total GF, so USA has the advantage, having scored 3 so far to ENG’s 1.  It’s possible but unlikely that ENG could advance in this scenario–if they & SVN play to a high-scoring draw, e.g. 3-3, while USA plays to a low-scoring draw, e.g. 0-0.)

Group C fixtures & results:

  • Sat June 12 (Day 2): England 1, USA 1
  • Sun June 13 (Day 3): Slovenia 1, Algeria 0
  • Fri June 18 (Day 8): USA 2, Slovenia 2
  • Fri June 18 (Day 8): England 0, Algeria 0
  • Wed June 23 (Day 13): Slovenia v England
  • Wed June 23 (Day 13): USA v Algeria

Standings:

Team MP W D L GF GA Pts
SloveniaSlovenia 2 1 1 0 3 2 4
USAUSA 2 0 2 0 3 3 2
EnglandEngland 2 0 2 0 1 1 2
AlgeriaAlgeria 2 0 1 1 0 1 1

Video highlights below.

Dispatches

Dispatch from Cape Town: Rowan Flad on FanFest, USA-SLV, ENG-ALG

June 23, 2010 — by Suman

We just received via email a dispatch from South Africa: friend, former teammate, and archaeologist Rowan Flad on watching the US-Slovenia game last Friday at the FanFest in Cape Town, followed by watching England-Algeria live:

Today [Friday, June 18] we (me and my wife In Paik) attended our first live match of WC2010 – England v. Algeria.  We spent the day exploring Cape Town a little more, after having done Table Mountain and some other sites yesterday, first going to a sweet little coffee shop in Observatory (Obz), the part of town where we are staying, called “Queen of Tarts,” and then heading into the City Bowl area where we had a lunch of African tapas at a joint called “Africa Café.”  We then headed to the District Six museum, which was only a few blocks from “Fanfest” – the designated viewing area where a huge screen had been set up outside city hall for people to watch games.

EuropeGeneral Knowledge

Where in the world is Slovenia?

June 23, 2010 — by Suman

Something I’ve been asking myself over the past couple weeks.  Here is the 1st hit upon Googling the title of this post.

The Slovene lands were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the latter’s dissolution at the end of World War I. In 1918, the Slovenes joined the Serbs and Croats in forming a new multinational state, which was named Yugoslavia in 1929. After World War II, Slovenia became a republic of the renewed Yugoslavia, which though Communist, distanced itself from Moscow’s rule. Dissatisfied with the exercise of power by the majority Serbs, the Slovenes succeeded in establishing their independence in 1991 after a short 10-day war. Historical ties to Western Europe, a strong economy, and a stable democracy have assisted in Slovenia’s transformation to a modern state. Slovenia acceded to both NATO and the EU in the spring of 2004.

So a Slovenia v Serbia matchup would be quite interesting–but unlikely to happen in this tournament.

(See also here and there for more.)

Commentary

The Big E.A.S.Y. (via @johnglally)

June 21, 2010 — by Suman

Via an Englishman in New York, @johnglally (whom we hope will soon shift (or at least crosspost) his commentary from Twitter to CultFootball):

“I wonder why England players might suffer from complacency and overconfidence…”


Dateline = December 2009, when the group draw was announced.

Commentary

USA USA USA

June 18, 2010 — by Sean

Today we find out if our team has a real shot at the knockout round. Slovenia are a scrappy team that put out Russia on the way to qualification, so they’ll be no pushovers. Let’s hope it’s the Slovenians who will be the jittery unsettled side when the game starts, and that we’re the ones who score an early goal for once.

The cultfootball team will be off joining in the watching and hopefully some celebrations afterward, so no liveblogging (sorry all you poor computer-tethered bastards, we still love you, promise).  We’ll  put up a little recap and some other various thoughts later.

Okay everybody have fun out there, and let’s keep it clean.