You remember that photo we blogged of Peter Crouch and Steve Cherundolo that pitted "giant" against "little guy"? Well, we found another. This one comes from the USA-Algeria game as Michael Bradley wins a ball from Mehdi Lacen. It only fits. Bradley has been a giant for the USA in this World Cup tournament so far.

Tim Howard got back to the team hotel after the big win over Algeria, turned on a television and saw David Wright. Then he noticed what the New York Mets third baseman was wearing.

Now that the deserved hoopla has calmed down about the United States beating Algeria and making it to the second round of the World Cup, it's time for a reality check. That is that the United States, while playing very well in the first round, are currently not good enough to make it far in this tournament.

Jason Gay of the Wall Street Journal chimes in on recent American converts to soccer-
Remember June 23, 2010: the day the lame old "Soccer is Boring" argument finally died in the U.S.
If you weren't completely, utterly thrilled, exhausted and satisfied by Wednesday's 1-0 Team USA World Cup thriller over Algeria, you're a lifeless sports corpse.

Even before Clint Dempsey plopped to the ground Sunday the United States was already nearing The Tipping Point.

Charlie Davies is recovering from a shattered leg; Oguchi Onyewu is trying to rush back from a patellar tendon rapture (his knee is fucked up); Jermaine Jones might never recover from his broken leg; Jozy Altidore can't score a goal in the English Premier League; Carlos Bocanegra is stuck on the Stade Rennes' bench; DaMarcus Beasley started playing well for the first time in years before tearing his hamstring.

It's incredible how one goal can make such a difference. With the game between Algeria and the United States still at nil-nil in the 90th minute Wednesday, the USA men's national team was on the precipice of getting knocked out of the tournament. But the last-gasp winner by Landon Donovan changed everything in so many ways.

Algeria's head coach and several of the team's players showed themselves gracious in defeat yesterday, after their team was eliminated from the 2010 World Cup at the hand of the U.S. Men's National Team. The result, a 1-0 decision in the Americans' favor, is being hailed as a watershed event for U.S.

Perusing the Italian squad earlier, I noticed something odd: people in their early 20's. In fact there were 7 seven! players 25 or under in Marcello Lippi's squad, which made me think perhaps this Italy squad was, dare I say, young (comparison and all that). Therefore I hacked out the average age of the Azzurri and came up with 28.

Perusing the Italian squad earlier, I noticed something odd: people in their early 20's. In fact there were 7 seven! players 25 or under in Marcello Lippi's squad, which made me think perhaps this Italy squad was, dare I say, young (comparison and all that). Therefore I hacked out the average age of the Azzurri and came up with 28.

Has anyone seen squashed Landon Donovan? The USA left it late against Algeria before Landon Donovan grabbed the injury-time winner that took them through to the next round at Slovenia's expense. The squad celebrated the last-gasp goal in true playground style with a pile on. See the goal after the jump.

If a picture says a thousand words, then this video says an amount that I can't even try to calculate. Props to the American Outlaws in Lincoln, Nebraska. We were all right there with you.

As you probably already know, Clint Dempsey recently spoke on the Yanks World Cup group consisting of England, Algeria, and Slovenia. He came to the not-so-groundbreaking conclusion that a third or fourth place finish in group play and no trip to the knockout rounds would be a failure for the team. In the realm of quotes to the press, this represented a Captain Obvious-esque performance.

After the United States' big win over Algeria, striker Herculez Gomez was bursting with pride at his team's ability to go 'all in,' even with odds stacked against them.

Funny story. And yet another sign of how many people were watching this 2010 FIFA World Cup from South Africa this summer. After U.S. star Landon Donovan said hi to his former wife actress Bianca Kajlich at the end of his post-game flash interview following his dramatic stoppage time goal defeated Algeria and won the Group for the USA at the 2010 World Cup, U.

The voting for the WAG World Cup Group C is now done and dusted, so there's nothing left to do but to reveal the results and show you the contenders in Group D. Here are those Group C results:

England 60%
USA 29%
Slovenia 10%
Algeria 1%

So England and the USA go through, where they will meet one of the following ladies from Group D, in what looks very much like a 'Group of Death':

1.

You may have caught me sneaking a couple of guest posts onto USA World Cup Blog recently. So I felt I should explain myself.

I'm an England fan first and foremost, because that's my country and that's my team. But I'm also a USA fan. I've lived here for nearly half a decade now, and started cheering for the USA almost the moment I arrived.

USA took one point out of their second group stage game against Slovenia. Landon Donovan and Michael Bradley scored second half goals to pull the US back from an enormous first half deficit.

Maurice Edu should have won the game late when he put the ball in the Slovenian net, but a mysterious offsides call ruled out the goal.

PRETORIA, South Africa – One of the questions bounced around Landon Donovan's table today at the U.S. press availability concerned the United States, now making the tricky adjustment to playing as a favorite.

"Who said we're favored," Donovan shot back with a little grin, presumably being coy but probably a little serious, too.

Old Trafford man speaks his mind.

Think England will win World Cup on pens? Bet with 888Sport and get £20 refund!

Get Your Anti Vuvuzela T-Shirt Now!

You may have noticed at the end of the Algeria game that Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney approached an advancing cameraman and was picked up voicing his views about the booing England fans, if you missed it watch the clip below.

By Herman Miller

Replacing football teams with ridonkulously hot women is one way of making the 2010 World Cup more fun. So in addition to our coverage of what happens on the pitch in South Africa, that's exactly what Pies is doing... You're welcome.

Today's match, the final first-round tie, is a titanic clash between Paraguay say hello to the infamous Larissa Riquelme and the underdog Kiwis, represented by leggy blonde Rachel Hunter.

FIFA has released its post-World Cup rankings, with every team that played in South Africa numbered #1 to #32. According to the BBC, the "rankings take into account group stage results, progress in the competition and the quality of opposition."

No surprise that Spain and Netherlands are #1 and #2 respectively, with semifinalists making the top four and quarterfinalists making the top eight.

Let the Bob Bradley scrutiny begin!

In the next eight weeks or so, with an increasingly "intelligent" American soccer public, Bob Bradley will be under the microscope unlike any American soccer coach in history. Of course, it won't compare to the pressure in England, Brazil, Germany, Argentina or most anywhere else for that matter.

So, one of the most exciting things about the World Cup is that you can compare all the best countries in the World and decide just how good everyone is. As the teams play in the Group/Knockout format however, most of that is conjecture. Except, now it isn't.

Landon Donovan scored deep into injury time, saving the United States from elimination and giving the Americans first place in Group C with a pulsating victory over Algeria.

That was as good as it gets. Despite showing off the USA's lack of a final cutting edge in the box, it made for even better drama. A TRULY DESERVED VICTORY!!!

UNITED STATES 1 ALGERIA 0

The US wins the group and now looks at a potential matchup with Serbia (maybe Ghana).

Enormous ups to Jonathan Bornstein, I don't like him, you don't like him, but he did his job well today.

Dempsey's Freak Goal Upsets England.

A spirited draw by a resilient USMNT sees Bob Bradley's men stand up in the face of technically superior opposition and show the world and USA fans that they truly have earned their place in this summer's World Cup and that they can contend with the best of them.

USA's Landon Donovan feels that the controversial call during their second match in the group stage against Slovenia, will increase interest when the U.S. takes on Algeria this Wednesday.

All the United States needs to advance is a win on Wednesday. A victory over Algeria guarantees the U.

England

Is Fergie Playing Coy On Sneijder?

According to the Daily Mail, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson says that there hasn't been a bid for Dutch star Wesley Sneijder and that he doesn't need him, as his current squad is stronger than last season's squad.

Earlier this week, Chris posted a video of Neymar and his "paradinha" penalty. "Paradinha," you'll remember, is Portuguese for "little stop." The perfect description. There may be another word in French or Arabic to describe the above move by Egypt's Hosni Abd Rabou (against Algeria), but in English we'll just call it "the [.

Hard on the heels of the story about Scotsmen and women supporting England at the World Cup comes another twist in the debate – only this one will have everyone rolling their eyes in dismay.
An Aberdeen shop owner has caught the eye of the local police, according to the Daily Record. His crime?

The festive scenes inside Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria, South Africa after Landon Donovan's game-winning goal for the USA against Algeria on Wednesday won't soon be forgotten, but as someone who was in the stadium, it was easy to forget that millions around the world were watching and celebrating that same goal.

You may have read in an earlier Blog post about how Landon Donovan's ridiculously dramatic goal against Algeria induced labor in a woman from Harrisburg, Pa.We were joking about the baby being named Landon, or someone variation thereof, but as it turns out, that's exactly what happened...well, sort of.

The latest FIFA rankings have been published, with the top nine positions remaining unchanged. Egypt was the month's big winner, jumping from 24th to 10th on the strength of their impressive Africa Cup of Nations triumph. Cameroon, meanwhile, slid from 11th to 20th after making a disappointing early exit from the tournament.

Wow. I am exhausted after watching that game. A win against Slovenia looks more likely especially given how good Altidore looked today. And then a win against Algeria should be straightforward. First place vs. second place between the US and England will hopefully come down to goal difference.
USA!

When the draw for Group C was named in December, little did we know how difficult it would be to predict who would advance and how close the race was going to be on the final day of the first round games in Group C.

The beauty of World Cup Group C is that it's in the hands of all four teams.

Keeping the media in check Algeria vetern Rafik Saifi slapped a female journalist after his side's defeat to USA yesterday. The 36-year-old spotted reporter Asma Halimi, of Algerian newspaper Competition, as he walked through the interview zone after the match and hit her with an open hand in front of several witnesses.

Landon Donovan is on the line from California. It's just after dawn on the West Coast of the United States, which is symbolic in a way, considering a new phase is dawning in Donovan's career after his standout performance at this World Cup. Donovan scored three goals in South Africa, including the one to beat Algeria that many are calling the biggest goal in U.

U.S. Soccer has agreed to a contract extension with U.S. Men's National Team head coach Bob Bradley. The agreement with Bradley, who guided the U.S. team to numerous achievements including finishing in first place in their group at the 2010 FIFA World Cup for the first time in 80 years, will keep him at the helm through the end of 2014.

By Ollie Irish

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Algerian fans with a message about Ireland not being in the World Cup during the International Friendly at the RDS Stadium, Dublin.

Ireland continue to beat World Cup-qualified teams, no doubt wanting to prove a point to Monsieur Henry and the rest of France.

By Oli Davies, writing from England

With the footballing space on the internet dominated by Britain and America, this group is being intensely studied. But it shouldn't be. I mean, really, it's not all that interesting.