If any England fans are still wondering what went wrong in South Africa, allow Sir Alex Ferguson to illuminate you:

With inquests continuing into England's lacklustre showing at the World Cup, Ferguson lamented the continued absence of a mid-season break from the English football calendar (which would need the approval of the Premier League) as a major contributing factor to the struggles of Fabio Capello's side. "(The FA) has to give the country the best possible chance of doing well in the World Cup and because of the nature of our game and because of the demands from television to have a programme every week, the idea of a winter break, which I was first talking about 30 years ago in Scotland and have done since I came down to England, nothing has happened about it," Ferguson said. "They must realise that, going into the World Cup, they have handicapped their team."

It's certainly possible that taking a short break mid-season could be beneficial. A little rest and recuperation could help prevent some injuries and strains and keep players at peak performance levels - I won't argue with that. But it's also possible it wouldn't do jack shit if you've got players who are, for example, so accustomed to being the stars of their club teams that they forget how to play as a full squad and blunder around the pitch, communicating as badly as Palin's Twitter feed. Besides that, it's simply no guarantee that taking a couple of weeks off six months before the World Cup would have any impact whatsoever, so while it's fine to say that maybe this is an idea to think about, it seems a little egregious for Ferguson to essentially say the failures are the FA's fault because they have not granted him his birthday-candle wishes for 30 years. It is not definitive that the team is "handicapped" by not having a winter break. It is far more definitive that Ferguson misses having officials on the pitch to complain about and just wants it to be mid-August already, guys! Plus, even if the FA did kneel before Zod SAF and implement a break, we all know it would either be too long or too short for Fergie, depending on how United played in their games following resumption of play.

Boy, Thursday came and went, dinnit? I blame my staycation, which has sapped my Kuyt-esque work ethic and left me a Diet-Coked-up FIFA 10 addict. But enough about me, let's get back to the insights of Liverpool's least hated American associate, nate! Last time, we talked about the World Cup and England's shortcomings. Now we turn our attention to the transition as a fan from the international game to the club game -- how did nate do it? Who might he recommend following at the club level from this World Cup? And yeah, we get into whatever Liverpool's become, as well. Join the conversation after the jump!

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With the World Cup in full swing, it's easy to forget that, as soon as it's over, we'll be thrust back into the cold, uncaring world of club football. Okay, okay, maybe it's not that bad for most of you, but I'm a Liverpool fan, so, yeah, it's that bad. Probably worse. My favorite soccer site in the world is Oh You Beauty, written by a man who goes by the Brazilian-esque singular name of nate. Normally Liverpool-focused, he also has some of the clearest, most insightful World Cup game recaps on the interwebs, so I highly suggest checking him out now and in the future. As the Cup semi finals loom, and with some exciting(ish) developments in the Liverpool world, I thought now would be a good time to conduct our first-ever Pandagoal interview. Hit the jump to read what nate has to say about the World Cup, England's shortcomings and more in part 1 of our interview. Part 2 runs Thursday, so stay tuned!

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No real surprises in today's results: two strong teams continue to roll on, and the officiating continued to induce head-meets-desk collisions around the world. Probably the best evidence in support of goal-line technology and/or video replays came in the Germany-England match. We've seen a few disallowed/non-called goals so far (haven't we, USMNT fans?) but Frank Lampard's would-be equalizer being missed was pretty damn egregious: You can point out the Germany went on to score two more goals, and England couldn't net another, so it didn't matter in the end. My thinking on that kind of argument is that you never know how one moment affects the rest of the game. It's highly likely that the frustration at the call being blown left the English side angry and unable to focus, and that had the goal been correctly awarded and the score tied up, the elation could have given their morale a needed boost and their performance a needed kick in the collective ass. In addition, it's not just about "did this one call directly affect the outcome of the game" - it's about players, coaches and fans needing to be able to trust the officials and to know that the outcome of the game is dependent upon the abilities and performances of the teams, not upon the luck of the draw with awful calls. A whistle instead of a yellow here or there is one thing; clear goals being missed or called off is entirely another. The teams looked fairly even in the beginning, but after Miroslav Klose scored in the 20th thanks in part to a defensive blunder by Matthew Upson, England started to look shaky. Just 12 minutes later Lukas Podolski added a second as the Germans played right through the opposing back line. But England started to kick up the attack, and Upson responded with a goal in the 37th. They continued to press, and then moments later came Lampard's shot and the stupendously wrong call. In the second half, England was pressing and looked hungry and focused...except for the defense. With two goals knocked in by Thomas Muller in the 67th and 70th minutes, it was clear that England wasn't going to overcome anything when only half of their team came to play today. A 4-1 loss sends the Three Lions home while Germany moves on to the quarterfinals. But the early match didn't hog all the controversy...

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Another day, another group finished up and now we have the next set of Round of 16 matches: Germany's 1-0 win over Ghana today combined with Australia's 2-1 win over Serbia gives us England vs Germany and US vs Ghana. I believe both match-ups will be interesting, but I don't necessarily know how that interest will take shape. One would think a game between #6 Germany and #8 England would be rollicking...but England hasn't exactly approached anything resembling rollicking in their group matches. Of course, after their opener, Germany has also seemed a bit lackluster. The match today was fairly even - Germany had a 54 - 46 edge in possession, but had fewer shots than Ghana. Passing was decent on both sides, but there was a lot of turnover action happening midfield in both directions. Both teams saw some good chances wasted, and both teams had moments of good defense. The difference in the game was a beautiful left-footed strike from Mesut Ozil, but other than that there wasn't much to write home about. Is England a better team than Ghana? In general, I'd say yes, but as we've seen in this World Cup, that doesn't mean much. England certainly hasn't played up to their potential thus far, but neither did Germany today nor last week against Serbia. Having finished second behind the US, England may be driven to kick ass or they may be deflated by the negative press they've received and by their own disappointment. My feeling is that Germany is the stronger side right now and holds the momentum, but if the England Egos can be corralled and if all those stars can come together, it could be quite a battle. The US v Ghana match will be intriguing, what with the memories of the Americans' loss to the African side back in the 2006 World Cup, leading to a plane ride home for Donovan et al. Can this rather different US squad make up for that disheartening game? Looking at how they've played, I'd say absolutely, but knowing the troubles with consistency...I'll knock on wood and say probably. As mentioned, Ghana seemed to hold up decently against Germany but throughout the match seemed unable to keep up a constant flow - in the beginning portion they were slow and losing possession easily; the end of the first half saw them pick it up and become the more dangerous attacking side; in the second half they continued to push but not well enough, and couldn't seem to put much together when they did hold the ball. The US will need to exploit those soft moments, and they have the speed to do so, but does their defense have the strength to support it? As for Australia's tough win over Serbia, it sounds like a valiant effort and it's a result the Australians should be proud of, even if it didn't secure a spot in the knockout round for them. If not for the 4-0 stomping they took in the opener against Germany, it might be a different story, as second-half goals from Tim Cahill and Brett Holman weren't enough to overcome the goal difference. Their defense did well to hold off Serbia, who didn't find the net until the 84th minute, and a handful of tweets told me Marko Pantelic's shot came from an offside position. Going home on a strong finish still means going home, but fighting to the last minute means heads should be held high.

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!

What does the passionless, uncreative, brutally underachieving Liverpool season of 09-10 have in common with the passionless, uncreative, brutally underachieving England group performance thus far? Just sayin.

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.

Title courtesy of my coblogger, Auguste. I doff my hat to you, sir. As exciting as it was, as proud as I am of the team, as pleased as I am with the result...dang, am I ever glad that's over with. My nerves were frazzled to the point of a near-dissociative state and I felt like I'd drank a pot of coffee on an empty stomach...coffee mixed with oven cleaner and shards of glass. It's exhausting being a soccer fan! BUT! At times it is also rewarding, and while of course I was hoping for a US win today, I will gladly take a 1-1 draw. Overall, I'm happy to say that the US was the better team for good portions of this match. It didn't start that way, with England's goal coming in just the 4th minute after Steven Gerrard easily got away from Ricardo Clark. This was worrisome not just because of the obvious but because the US tends not to recover well when they allow an early goal, whether in the first or second half. But rather than getting deflated and coming apart, the team buckled down and responded very well. The defense, including Oguchi Onyewu in his first full game since his knee injury last October, gave one of the best performances we've seen from them in a long time. It wasn't without blunders here or there of course, but was much stronger and more cohesive than usual. In fact, Capello's reason for subbing out James Milner in only the 31st minute was that "he was having trouble with [Steve] Cherundolo". Tim Howard was unsurprisingly great, making several key saves even after taking Emile Heskey's boot to his ribs. I do not ever want to see this again:

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This year will mark the first time I have lived outside of England during a World Cup, and while this should prove beneficial in some regards - particularly in that I can avoid the jingoistic fever and over-hyped expectations for the England team that the British media will stir into a frenzy - it does mean I can't have a punt on the winners, as gambling is (as far as I know) illegal here in the States. Regardless, I thought it might be quite interesting to have a look at what the bookmakers at home think is likely to happen this summer, and see how far we agree with them.

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I love Football365, and not just because they once published an essay of mine which got picked up elsewhere and made me a professional writer for the first time. Especially good is the Mediawatch section, and a recent item highlights the kind of joy they bring:

We're sure you've already read it, but if not, [John] Terry said: "I can speak about the England lads and the England team and it (diving) is something we don't do. "I think sometimes we're too honest because sometimes, even in the Premiership, you see the English lads get a bit of contact and try and stay on their feet and try and score from the chance they've been given." Sigh. Do we really need to do this? We do?

Click here and scroll down to see the long list of counter-examples. Seriously, there's nothing funnier than anyone defending his countrymen against charges of diving, since it's so easily proven wrong and obvious. That said, I do think the US players are far better than average. Cough. Later in the same column:

'England must do it Chelsea style, says JT' - CityAM. Yeah, nicking all the best young players from around the world would help, but we're not sure how it would work. Unless JT just means that England aren't allowed to do transfers...

Hee hee.