A friend and colleague from law school wrote on my Facebook wall yesterday evening: Try putting that into words. He's right. It's been over twenty-four hours since Landon Donovan catapulted the United States to its first group win in the modern era, and I still don't quite know what to make of what happened.

Stuart Holden impressed in last weekend's game with English Premiere League's Bolton Wanderers. Bolton manager Owen Coyle hopes Holden will have the same affect on the team as Landon Donovan has at Everton:

Owen Coyle reckons his own transatlantic purchase can have similar resuscitating effects to those which Landon Donovan's arrival has had on Everton's season.

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.

They Think It's All Over... brings you reaction from the England-USA game.

You wanna talk drama? As the minutes ticked down in South Africa, the thunder started to roll in central Pennsylvania. So I'm biting my nails on two fronts: (1) can the US hold on and (2) will the power stay on? Somewhere, there was probably some...

It's all on the line when the USA play Slovenia Friday. This game is the pivotal encounter of Group C play, and will define the USA's World Cup 2010.

Slovenia's win over Algeria puts them in lead of Group C, and they are the favorites to progress out of the Group alongside England. Only two of the four teams advance.

Being in my middle-50's, I consider myself to have seen quite a lot in my years of being a football fan. I have played the game and also coached occasionally, and recently started to write about what I see. As a passionate England fan, and being of my generation, I have bought my ticket to the roller coaster ride of success and failure that is England football.

91′ Landon Donovan. Group C Winners. Onto the Round of 16.

Fabio Capello saw his England side qualify from Group C when beating Slovenia 1-0

Unfortunately for England fans the United States were the most worthy team of winning Group C in the FIFA World Cup and that's how it proved after Landon Donovan won the third group match against Algeria for the Americans in the last minute.

Okay, I know, technically it was a draw, but it was one of those draws that felt like a win. Going into what was arguably the most anticipated US World Cup match since playing Mexico in 2002, it was hard to nail down how the match would turnout. While England is not the best squad in this tournament, they have players like Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, and John Terry, and a ton of expectation riding on their shoulders.

We might be able to toss Slovenia in the "happy to be here" category. For firsts, they have a very humble, and short, World Cup history which consists of three losses and nothing else. Of course making World Cup 2002 was a miracle in itself and brings their record of World Cup qualifying to 2 in 4, a damn fine record for country of their size (2m) and birth date (1992).

The excitement is building as we get closer to opening match of the 2010 World Cup. Continuing on with the nations in Group C, The United States is the final Group C team we will breakdown.
Official Name: United States Soccer Federation
Nickname: Stars & Stripes
FIFA Confederation: CONCACAF (North & Central America, Caribbean)
FIFA Code: USA
How They Qualified: 1st place in CONCACAF hexagonal final stage
World Cup Appearances (Including 2010): 9
Best WC Finish: 3rd place, Uruguay 1930
World Cup Record (MP: Wins - Draws - Losses): 25: 6W - 3D - 16L
Head Coach: Bob Bradley
Most Capped Player (# of caps): Cobi Jones (164)
All-Time Goal Scoring Leader (# of goals): Landon Donovan (42)
Brief Footballing History:
Despite soccer's standing as the 4th or 5th sport in the US, its history is surprisingly rich.

I think it's fair to say that World Cup Group C has certain people excited. It consists of four teams Algeria, England, Slovenia, USA and an awful lot of hype.

USA fans are excited for all kinds of reasons, while the English media (and let's be honest, some fans) think it's a very favourable draw.

England World Cup 2010 preview #10 (Group C) is a post from: Just Football

England in the World Cup OR Mindlessly Raising One's Hopes

The time has come for me to and put on the St. George's Cross underpants whilst constantly speaking like a tabloid headline to any one that can hear me.

Algeria World Cup 2010 Preview #9 (Group C) is a post from: Just Football

Algeria

Appearances at World Cup finals: Two times, in 1982 and 1986

Best ever performance: 13th place in 1982, eliminated in the 1st round with two wins and a single defeat

Famous moment in WC history: Beating West Germany in the first round game in 1982 in Spain, by 2-1.

Unlike Group C, there is no clear underdog in this group, just one supreme overdog. Netherlands qualified perfectly, and will no doubt make it through.

Van Persie (if fit) lines up at the head of an attack including Champions League finalists Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder, which will rip through three mediocre opposition defences.

Group C

With England installed as the clear-cut favorite, the rest will be left to fight for the upset, and likely, second place. The United States have been given a favorable draw and will look to Slovenia and Algeria as teams they should beat, but both countries have offensive spark plugs that do not need many chances to capitalize.

Lee Jung-Soo scored South Korea's opening goal in their 2-0 victory over Greece

Saturday saw six more teams get their FIFA Wold Cup campaign underway with Groups B & C taking centre stage. The first match of the day is an early contender for the Stoppage Time Most Boring Game Of The Tournament award as South Korea and Greece provided an utterly underwhelming exhibition a term I use very loosely of football which could've put an insomniac asleep.

England 1 USA 1

The hype, the media circus, the promise of a renewed power and a plucky upstart and it was all defined by one man, one ball, one howler.

The World Cup is hours old and we've already had what may reign as the tournament's biggest blooper it's really hard to imagine worse.

Robert Koren scored the winning goal for Slovenia in their 1-0 victory over Algeria

Day three of the FIFA World Cup began with another contender for the Most Boring Match award, at least in the first half anyway, as Algeria and Slovenia played out a pretty dull forty-five minutes of football with each team having just one major chance each.

England continue their journey through Group C of the 2010 World Cup on Friday with their second match against the North African nation of Algeria at Green Point Stadium in Capetown, South Africa. Following England's disappointing 1-1 draw with the USA last Saturday, the pressure cooker of expectations from the English media and fans will certainly be cranked up to the next level.

England once again proved to be a mediocre team in the World Cup as they could only manage a 0-0 draw with Algeria, and given the stats of their group, they could be heading home by the end of the last match next week, they who were believed by many to be among the favorites [...]

One of these teams is going to be really disappointed with the result, the other will be positively giddy. No prizes for guessing which is which.

The myth of this new England now seems well and cooked after witnessing a dismal affair which wasn't pretty on the eyes of the neutral, and probably wasn't particularly aesthetic for anyone not waving their flag behind the Algerian line.

THE BIG PICTURE
England's first two games did not go well. There was the Robert Green spill for the 1-1 draw with USA, and the sedated (maybe literally?) performance for the 0-0 draw with Algeria. The tabloid's knives are out. But Fabio Capello is still confident that England can win this game and go all way.

* Group C not looking quite so tasty now, is it? The goals are below, but it's worth doing a little digging to find the full highlights of the match, including the remarkable sequence that sent the Cup of Nations quarterfinal to extra time. Keita's...

The excitement is building as we get closer to opening match of the 2010 World Cup. With the breakdown of teams from Groups A & B completed, we turn to the nations in Group C, beginning with Algeria.
Official Name: Fédération Algérienne de Football
Nickname: Les Fennecs (The Desert Foxes)
FIFA Confederation: CAF (Africa)
FIFA Code: ALG
How They Qualified: Def.

World Cup previews. They can be a bit dull and not particularly helfpul when it comes to predicting who will qualify from each group. One reason for this is that they focus too much on things like players and formations and not enough on the really good things. Like quality of national anthem, team nickname and potential celebrity spokesperson.

One of the most interesting tales from golf's Vatican this week has been the performance of Phil Mickelson, who tees off this afternoon with an eye on his third green jacket. Mickelson has played exceptional golf, and until Friday, no one that wasn't there really noticed, as we've been fed every possible Tiger Woods story by the four-letter.

The excitement is building as we get closer to opening match of the 2010 World Cup. Continuing on with the nations in Group C, as England is up next.
Official Name: The Football Association
Nickname: The Three Lions
FIFA Confederation: UEFA (Europe)
FIFA Code: ENG
How They Qualified: Won Group 6 of UEFA Qualifying
World Cup Appearances (Including 2010): 13
Best WC Finish: Champions, England 1966
World Cup Record (MP: Wins - Draws - Losses): 55: 25W - 17D - 13L
Head Coach: Fabio Capello
Most Capped Player (# of caps): Peter Shilton (125)
All-Time Goal Scoring Leader (# of goals): Sir Bobby Charlton (49)
Brief Footballing History:
England's national team is the co-oldest national team in the world along with Scotland.

The excitement is building as we get closer to opening match of the 2010 World Cup. Continuing on with the nations in Group C, as the surprise Eastern European side of Slovenia will be ballin in South Africa.
Official Name: Football Association of Slovenia
Nickname: None
FIFA Confederation: UEFA (Europe)
FIFA Code: SVN
How They Qualified: Defeated Russia 2-2 on away goals in playoff.

Original Source Blog : Sp Ftball Sprts /Spanish Football Sports Blog continues today will its daily serving of FIFA WORLD CUP 2010 32 Nations team photos. On Wednesday Group A was posted & yesterday Group B which can be viewed below. Today Group C ( England, Algeria, Slovenia & USA) team photos get highlighted with tomorrow Group D.

England would have been very pleased to land in a group that contains USA, Algeria and Slovenia when other potential opponents included Portugal and Ivory Coast. England's World Cup 2010 odds make them third favourites to win the tournament, but the other three sides in Group C will all fancy their chances of causing an upset.

In preparation for South Africa, several World Cup bound teams are playing in friendlies today to physically warmup and mentally prepare for the juggernaut tournament this summer. Amongst today's games, fans can look forward to seeing former England coach Sven Eriksson's Ivory Coast for the first time since he was hired, if Nigeria can overcome the off-field distractions that have plagued their World Cup preparations, if Japan can respond to positively versus England after being booed off the field by their own fans or if Tunisia can record a win over their former colonial ruler (France) at home.

The final cut

The chosen few. These are the best 23 English footballers who will represent our nation at the greatest tournament on earth. The only problem is that they simply are not good enough.

That our chances in South Africa seem to hinge on Gareth Barry is not a good start.

Join us for a live blog of the final friendly before we face England next weekend in the US's first game of the World Cup. You can read a preview and more about Jozy Altidore's injury here.

The game begins at 8:30 Eastern, so grab your coffee, remote, and laptop and join us!

USMNT vs.

Slovenia World Cup 2010 Preview #11 (Group C) is a post from: Just Football

Appearances at World Cup Finals: World Cup 2002 First round

Famous moment in World Cup history: Slovenia's first ever appearance at World Cup 2002 could not have been less successful.

USA World Cup 2010 Preview #12 (Group C) is a post from: Just Football

The United States World Cup 2010 Preview

Appearances at World Cup Finals: 9 Appearances. (2010, 2006, 2002, 1998, 1994, 1990, 1950, 1934, 1930)

Best Performance: Knocked out in semi-final in 1930

Famous Moment: In recent memory, beating Portugal in a shock in 2002 and qualifying out of the group along with S.

Australia

The Ozzies are in the mix again and I'd rather we avoid them early doors. They did well in the last World Cup (a Totti last minute Pen knocking them out) & can turn it on if they stay off the Castlemaine but an ageing squad is a worry. They would love a win against us to make up for their Ashes defeat but sorry Bruce, when it comes to big round balls, we're the crocs boll*cks mate!

We left the most anticipated to the end, with today's episode of the World Cup Buzz Podcast breaking down Group C. In that group England is the seed, and they are joined by Algeria, Slovenia, and a United States team that will look to conjure the same magic used on their last trip to South Africa.

We left the most anticipated to the end, with today's episode of the World Cup Buzz Podcast breaking down Group C. In that group England is the seed, and they are joined by Algeria, Slovenia, and a United States team that will look to conjure the same magic used on their last trip to South Africa.