Mark's Account of US/England

I had been looking forward to June 12th since the draw in December. It was supposed to be the perfect day. I envisioned a sunny 85 degree day, watching the match at the British Bulldog, followed by U2 at Invesco Field in the evening. Unfortunately, none of those things happened. It was a cloudy rainy 55 degree day, I didn’t make it to the Bulldog (which looked awesome), and Bono’s back issues wiped out the 2010 North American Tour.

That’s not so say it wasn’t a great day. I woke up at 5:45am and smoked a pork shoulder resulting in some very well-received Carolina BBQ (think vinegar). And it was extremely convenient having Adam (Man U, Skins fan) from across the park show up at 12pm sharp and walk five minutes to Neil's house filled with 15 neighbors and friends. One guy, Scott, I never met before, is the same age as me, grew up here in Denver, but played college ball for American, had a great story playing against Alexi Lalas when he was at Rutgers, and get this, his second favorite team is Germany because he watched Toby Charles’ Soccer Made in Germany as a kid.

Despite being like a kid on Christmas morning, I didn’t touch a drink in the morning. I half-viewed Argentina/Nigeria, while adding wood chips to the grill, and watched Audrey while M & C did errands in the morning. I arrived at Neil’s house at 12:05pm MT and had knocked back three Coors light by the time the national anthem finished. Fortunately, there were plenty of apps and I started mixing in waters, or I would have been “that guy” crookedly walking back to the house carrying tongs and BBQ sauce at 3:30pm on a Saturday.

As I feared, the US played nervously from the start. Give the Brits credit for their early goal, it was a nice bang bang play and perfect finish by Gerrard. Yet, as most American supporters were no doubt thinking the worst, I was very relaxed. This was in part to the beers, but mostly because I had watched the Argentina/Nigeria match two hours earlier. Argentina started similarly, looking awesome, like they were much much better and would win easily. But despite numerous shots and scary attacks by Messi, it didn’t happen, in fact, the Nigerians had a few counters that could have secured a point. I may have been a little more nervous had I watched the Germany/Australia game beforehand.

I did get nervous, very nervous, when it appeared Timmy was injured. I believe he is the only player that directly impacts how far his team will go. He toughed it out, my heart started beating again, and my confidence resumed. Much has been made of Dempsey’s goal. But the grass was slick, the ball was new, Green’s form was poor, the spin was right, and the match was tied. It was brilliant. The keeper’s luck changed in the second half, when his arm moved just enough to knock Altidore’s shot off the post, so I feel the result was fair.

DeMerit did a fantastic job marking Rooney. Gooch is healthy and a beast in the back. You guys were right for starting Cherundolo in place of Bornstein. Bocanegra was great in the air, playing much bigger than his size. Michael Bradley also did well, had a great pass, which started Joze’s run. Dempsey and Donovan maintained possession and instilled confidence in the side. Joze had a great run and deserved a goal. Ricardo Clark was the only American that did not meet expectations. Playing against Gerrard/Lampard is no easy task, so if he’s fully fit, he may deserve another chance. I do think Holden or Torres may create more opportunities against Slovenia, so it’s a difficult decision for Bob Bradley. We missed Davies. In his Confederations Cup form, he’s better than Findley/Edsun.

Tim Howard was Man of the Match. As Alexi Lalas likes to say “he’s one of the best goalkeepers in the world and he happens to be an American.” There were claims from British supporters he’s the only American that would start for England. They may be right. But that was also enough.

As texted by my sister, Bring on Slovenia!