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!

Update: Okay, had a chance to take a deep breath and digest all of this, so let's begin sorting through the details, shall we? 1) The call After the game on ESPN, Landon Donovan claimed that the ref wouldn't tell him what the call was when he disallowed the winning US goal. After seeing the image Auguste posted below, it was clear the only proper call would've been any one of 3 penalties for the US... unless, of course, you simply allow play to continue and thus allow the goal. But as James notes in comments below, this is far from the most egregious mistake in World Cup history, both in terms of impact and quality of fail. England's loss to Argentina thanks to Diego Maradona's Hand of God goal in 1986 has always stood out to me as the most painful of losses that can be pinned on a single botched call, and unlike the losers of that game, the USA is still very much alive -- a 2 goal win over Algeria will certainly put them through. Now, if England and Slovenia draw, things can get tricky, but we go into our match against Algeria knowing exactly what we have to do to take matters into our own hands. This call was bad, but it hasn't ruined the dream. 2) Credit to Slovenia They had a great gameplan, and they executed it to perfection in the first half. They aggressively challenged US players for the ball and turned on a dime to launch counter-attacks. The US clearly had communication problems at the back, and the Slovenians were operating in tons of space, creating alleys for players to burst forward. Sure, their defensive unit had issues like the US, but there was a coherence and unity, not to mention quickness, to the Slovenians that the US could only admire. Perhaps if the Slovenian keeper had showed a bit more mettle against Donovan's strike for the first goal, we'd be writing the obituary on the US World Cup team today. England will have their hands full. 3) Jozy Altidore Is he a tease or does he have the makings of a great footballer? Yes. And that's always going to be the problem. You can't sit a guy who's that explosive, but he'll also waste a maddening amount of attacks by shooting straight at the keeper, or hesitating to shoot, or forgetting he's not Wesley Sneijder, etc. He's the total X factor in the US attack, and I don't know if he'll ever develop the kind of consistency the team needs. But I also doubt anyone else will come along with a better package of potential, either. 4) Donovan Continues to make history for the US, even if his outstanding free kick for the 3rd goal will never be an official part of that history. The team needed a goal ASAP in the 2nd half, and unlike Jozy (who shied away from a similar angle in the first to waste a possession with a crap pass), Donovan put the team on his back and, as he said, fired at the goalie's head. Our first modern national soccer talisman. 5) Bob Bradley Committed fully to attack when down a goal late, going from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3 to 3-4-3 as time wound down. His subs were right on the money, and Edu would've made him look even more genius if a certain World Cup virgin hadn't pooped himself at the climax. This was a roller coaster for the ages. All hope was lost, then there was a half hour of hope and fear swishing around like painful mouthwash, then elation at the tie, then enduring fury at the denial of the win. Something tells me the galvanizing, community-enhancing effect this game is clearly having on the US fans is happening to the team, too. Adversity brings people together, gives them an injustice to rally around, and I can't wait to see how the US comes out against Algeria. Discuss. ----------- Auguste adds:

The most important game for the US is behind us, and tomorrow we have...the most important game for the US. I came to the maddening realization this week that the second game of the group stage, no matter who your opponent may be, is the paramount one. After the opener, whatever the result, it's still wide open as far as advancement. Ten teams lost their opening match but no one is counted out at that point, at least not mathematically. But when it comes to the second game, while it still may not be definitive for most teams, it can certainly feel so for all intents and purposes. A bad result makes the third game suddenly enormous, while a good result can put a team largely at ease (all of this is depending on what the table looks like after these results, of course). And thus tomorrow morning's match between the US and Slovenia is already giving me heart palpitations. I didn't see Slovenia's opener against Algeria, but while they did nab three points from it, it sounded generally unremarkable from what I've heard. But that doesn't mean the Yanks should be dialing back, not at all. In fact, I'd say the aim should be to step it up even more from the good showing against England. Slovenia seems to be a well-organized team, so keeping things controlled will be a key - I'm specifically hoping for the passing to be more accurate. But in addition to control, they will also need to be energetic and try to push forward through Slovenia's compact defense. I wouldn't make many changes to the starting 11 that we saw last Saturday, but there are a couple of swaps I'd like to see: --------------------Altidore----------Buddle-------------------- Donovan---------------------------------------------Dempsey --------------------Torres------------Bradley------------------ Bocanegra-------Onyewu-------DeMerit-------Cherundolo ------------------------------Howard------------------------------ Buddle over Findley is not so much a condemnation of the latter but rather in support of the former. I know Buddle didn't do much in his substitute role last Saturday, but as shown in the warm-up match against Australia and in many MLS games, he is often strong right out of the gate and seems to relish throwing down an attack while the other side is still getting settled. Additionally, as partners on the L.A. Galaxy, he and Donovan work very well together - he reads Donovan's intentions clearly, and is often able to get himself into position to be on the fortuitous end of Donovan's smart play-making. Findley may have more speed, but I feel that Buddle has a better tactical mindset. Torres over Clark is not an opinion that would put me in the minority, I don't think. Almost everyone I talked to about it over the past few days has said the same thing. Clark wasn't completely awful in the opener, but he wasn't impressive and he did have a big silly lapse that helped lead to England's early goal. I am just not all that impressed with his abilities and I want to see a different plan of action on Friday. Torres may be less experienced with the national team - he has ten caps to Clark's thirty - but he is fast and agile and shows a lot more determination, in my opinion. He always seems eager whenever he comes on the pitch to get right in the mix, and is bold and spirited. A favorite memory I have of him is from the final qualifier last October: in the waning minutes of stoppage time while the US was still down 2-1, he chased a Costa Rican player into the corner, knocked him down (fairly), and snagged the ball away and took off back down the pitch, all with a "just another day at the office" air. I watched the highlights from that game (in this awesome video at field level with no commentary, just the sounds of the game and the crowd) a handful of times and that moment makes me smile every time. Other than those two, it's the usual suspects of course, and I think it's a strong lineup. What are your thoughts/hopes/worries/prayers?

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.