The big day!

It's the big day. England vs USA, the most anticipated game in US soccer history. I was watching ESPN a few days ago and heard Wayne Rooney described as a 'foul mouthed man with a bad temper' by one of the ESPN hosts - I have to say I was astounded!!  I can't say that the comment was necessarily wrong, but it was perhaps a little harsh on national television! 

That does give an indication of how England's young striker is viewed over here, and also perhaps of how important they feel it is to stop him. I fully expect to see Rooney wound up by the US team, and would not be at all surprised to see him pick up a stupid yellow card! (Hopefully he won't see red!) 

How will the game go? Well on paper England should walk it, but unfortunately football is played on grass not paper!  On paper, Mexico should have comfortably beaten South Africa yesterday rather than sqeezing out a draw.

If England turn up and get into a rhythm, then I can see a relatively comfortable win for the 3 Lions, but when have England got into a rhythm in the first game of a World Cup?  Probably the only time I can remember was in Mexico 1982, when England beat France 3-1 in their opening game, when Bryan Robson scored after 27 seconds with one of the fastest World Cup goals ever.

Given all the bad mouthing between the UK and US over the BP fiasco, there is added spice to this encounter - not that it was needed!  Let's just hope the result of this game doesn't given the US more to brag about!!   

Here's a good preview...

England v USA preview