And the Twitter servers screamed NOOOOOO All hail Donovan, a talisman if ever there were one. He had a bright few minutes to open the second half before drifting off into irrelevance as Altidore and Dempsey took center stage. But then there he was, right place, right time, to (conservatively) deliver the most thrilling victory in US soccer history and (more optimistically) transform the destiny of his sport in his home country. It didn't look too good for a while there. The frustration of another diallowed goal, this time with a poor offside call on Clint Dempsey in the first half, along with chances blasted over -- and sometimes into -- the bar threatened to sink the team. And the victors should tip their cap the the goalkeeping of Algeria keeper Mbohli, who kept several other strikes from reaching the back of the net with outstanding instincts and confidence. One meme I'd like to dispell that started making its rounds in the waning minutes was that Algeria was playing for the tie all game. That is false -- they had 16 shots in the first hour or so of play, and they pressed and countered with more bodies against the US than they did against England. Maybe they're a mess when it comes to finishing, but it wasn't from a lack of trying. Granted, they rely on those counter-strikes instead of trying to impose their will from the start, but it resulted in more than enough offense to steal the game (if they could ever finish). England, meanwhile, used a dominating first half to put the screws to Slovenia and advance. With the early goal and continued assault on the Slovenian goal, it seemed certain that England would crack the game open with another score or two. But despite chances from Rooney, Gerrard, Defoe, and Lampard all coming :thisclose:, the English could never rest easy in the game. At one point, a Slovenian looked cut down in the box without a call, but I couldn't tell on the stream if it was definitely a foul. Regardless, England looked vibrant and explosive for the first time in the tournament, something the Group D winner they'll play next will be less than thrilled to see. Had Slovenia scored at any point, the USA finish might've been anti-climactic. Instead, the trudge through adversity that was Group C was transformed into the first time the USA won its group since 1930*. And it was the first American clean sheet in a World Cup group stage game* since 1950. So how was your morning? *Thanks to James for the corrections!

Rooney*.Gerrard. Lampard. Ashley Cole. Gareth Barry. For their club sides, these are world class players worth tens of millions of pounds. But stick them together, slap an England jersey on them, and suddenly it becomes difficult to tell them apart from Algeria. Just ask the scoreline. Algeria were tiring down the stretch (you could tell from all the cramping), and England upped the pressure somewhat, but to say "they lacked the final ball" would be doing a great service by overlooking how many times they never even got to the final ball. Passes were sent behind attackers, corners were constantly blasted into the first defender, players had the ball taken off their feet with ease -- this was a tentative, occasionally meek, performance. The implications on the group are profound. England will have to beat a quick, confident Slovenian team to have a realistic chance of advancing. The US can advance with a win vs Algeria, which is hardly looking guaranteed, or can go on if both games end in a tie again and England doesn't outscore them by 2 or more. In other words, the two teams most likely to win the group are Slovenia and the USA. Strange times. Algeria never showed much in attack, but they made very few mistakes in defense. And remember, they had a goalkeeping failure of their own vs Slovenia or they'd have blanked their first two opponents. It's safe to say they're a tough nut to crack. And for England, where to go from here? For my money, there's one major problem with this squad: it has no X-factor. I debated this a bit with the fun @empowerfootall folks, and my argument is this: teams need a blend of experience and youthful unpredictability. If a squad is comprised only of grizzled veterans who are entirely known quantities to each other and the world, it can lack creativity, exuberance, hope, and most of all, unpredictability. Having a few young players available whose ceilings are unknown, even to themselves, changes the dynamic of a whole team. Off the pitch, their naivete is probably the butt of a great many jokes, but the enthusiasm and hope that comes without having failed before can and often does rub off on the older players. In a game, when a team is flat or struggling to break open a game, injecting a young player who brings creativity, pace, and energy can be a pick-me-up to older players. Even they might be wondering, "let's see what this kid can do." Doesn't really matter which kid it is, you just need a few of them. Adam Johnson was the obvious choice this year. He made a splash for Man City with his pace and deft passing in the final third. His game isn't rich with subtlety or anything, but he wakes up the players around them. Clearly, England could use a bit of that. So where does Capello, who doesn't actually have Adam Johnson and seems to have made all the wrong moves so far, go from here? I say he needs as much X-ness as possible. Carragher will be out after 2 yellows, so go with uncapped Michael Dawson. Drop Heskey, add the productive Joe Cole. Maybe even drop Lampard for Cole, who seems to fade into the background for England and plays too much like "captain" Steven Gerrard. Then you can play Defoe or Crouch for Heskey. However he chooses, he needs to shake this team up. If England fail to make it out of the group, he'll be looking for a new job anyway. * Or what passes for Rooney. He looks hurt or exhausted. The Rooney of midseason would be a massive boon right about now.

Yeah, this sort of sums it up. Yes, the German feet were ready for a battle today, and I imagine the Aussies at times might have preferred to be trapped in a submarine. The 4-0 rout by the European side was surely painful for Socceroos fans, but you can't say it wasn't earned - Germany simply outplayed them. They held 56% of possession - not a huge imbalance, although they made much better use of their time with the ball than Australia did, showing some masterful passing and clever footwork. They outshot Australia 17 to 11, which wouldn't be such a glaring gap but the shots on goal were 9 to 2, a bit more embarrassing. Australia almost scored very early off a corner kick, but the chance was blocked, and further chances were few and uninspired. In the 8th minute Lukas Podolski put the Germans in the lead, and Miroslav Klose had a great opportunity to add a second midway through the first half, but sent his shot wide despite being in front of the net. He made up for it minutes later in the 26th after Australian keeper Mark Schwarzer came off his line and was unable to stop the shot. That kind of poor defending was fairly prevalent throughout the game for Australia, a notable exception being Lucas Neill's quick-thinking clearance of Mesut Ozil's shot around the 30th. Ozil had already beaten Schwarzer but Neill raced in and got his foot to the ball, sending it skyward. After the restart, Australia looked a bit more focused and was playing better, but still unable to put anything together. Then in the 56th, Tim Cahill was shown a straight red card for a from-behind tackle on Bastian Schweinsteiger (in the running for Germaniest name on the team). From my point of view, and I'm not totally alone here, the call was unwarranted. Yes, the tackle was a bit late and from behind, but Cahill clearly tried to pull back when he realized the ball had been moved away. He ran into Schweinsteiger with his shins after apparently attempting to curl his legs down and avoid hitting him with his boots. It certainly deserved a yellow, but I felt an ejection was too much, and it proved to be an impassable moment for Australia. They really struggled against the German attack, and looked more and more ragged as the end neared. Germany tacked on two more goals, from Thomas Müller in the 67th and Cacau in the 70th. Germany is basically guaranteed to win Group D if they keep this up, and will play the second place team in the USA's Group C in the Round of 16. Which, you know...is something to either think very very hard about, or to completely ignore so as to avoid driving one's self mad. Through a desperate need for sleep, I missed today's other two games - our groupmates' match ended with Slovenia winning 1-0 over Algeria, the goal coming through a keeper misjudgment. All accounts I've heard say both sides were unimpressive and messy, so as much as a draw would have been preferred by US fans, knowing neither team put forth a good display will have to suffice. In the other Group D match, Ghana pulled off a 1-0 victory over Serbia, thanks to a penalty kick given in the 84th minute after a handball in the box by Zdravko Kuzmanovic.