Another goalie blew another one in Group C yesterday, so the possibilities for the U.S. World Cup team seem endless.
Fawzi Chaouchi of Algeria let one in off his arm that Robert Koren shot practically from Slovenia in their 1-0 loss yesterday, a day after England’s Robert Green couldn’t scoop up the simplest two-hopper from Clint Dempsey. Clearly, no shot is a bad shot. And our shot at getting to the single elimination phase of the tournament increases exponentially with every flub.
Of course coach Bob Bradley is praying his own goalie, Tim Howard, can play through what likely is at least cartilage damage in his ribs, if not an actual fracture. Howard, kicked when he dove to beat England’s Emile Heskey to a cross late in the first half, toughed it out as the U.S. rallied for a 1-1 tie Saturday that was undeniably both a gift and hard-earned.
It was gifted because of Green’s gaffe, which will leave a very different memory of the U.S.’s performance in this World Cup should the Americans never score again. It was hard earned because it was against England, which can bring it and did against what had been a worrisome U.S. backline.
Three defenders, Oguchi Onyewu (torn patella tendon), Jay DeMerit (cornea transplant) and Carlos Bocanegra (hernia), were coming off surgeries over the past months that had severely limited their playing time together.
Like Benjamin Franklin said the last time that we faced such English firepower, “We’ll all hang together or we’ll all hang separately.”
The Brits had the ball 57 percent of the game, which means there was a lot more defending going on by the Americans than countering, yet England’s penetrations were held to a number that Howard and his rib could handle.
If Howard, an animated director of his lieutenants in front of him, slept at all on Saturday night, it was only because he now has reason to be a lot less worried about the 40 feet in front of him.
Steve Cherundolo, perhaps the most under-recognized U.S. player, dominated James Milner to the point where England coach Fabio Capello made a halftime change to Shaun Wright-Phillips. Onyewu made one of the serial mistakes that led to Steven Gerrard’s early goal, but settled in and proved his knee was sound by staying with England superstar Wayne Rooney on one second half open-pitch run.
Bocanegra struggled at times with Aaron Lennon, but largely got the job done, and DeMerit, probably the least accomplished of the four, was anything but embarrassed by Rooney, his main mark.
The U.S. won’t face anything near the level of England’s firepower in the two remaining games of Group C play, against Slovenia and Algeria. So the biggest challenge for the backline probably has already has been met in the opening round.
To get past that point, it’s going to take more than good old American grit and the spirit of togetherness. But certainly there is no getting there without it.
jay.greenberg@nypost.com
