What Today's U.S., England Draws Mean?

In case you weren't actually at the match (Eric), playing hookey from work at 10am Eastern (Beau), or half asleep on your parents' couch at 7am Pacific (me), you may have missed an edge-of-your-seat 90 minutes of USA soccer today, with our Yanks fighting back from a nil-two deficit going into the half to almost pull off a Laker-esque come-from-behind victory. In fact, but for the worst reffing ever, Team USA would now be sitting happy atop the Group C standings. Unfortunately, they suffered from a non-foul called a foul, plus failure to call a penalty kick, resulting in a 2-2 draw, and Slovenia kings of Group C.

Oh yeah, and then England drew 0-0 with Algeria, proving definitively that England (ranked #8 in the world by FIFA) was overrated coming into this World Cup, and that Rooney's Premier League top-striker title fails to translate without a star international supporting cast.

So what does this all mean? Slovenia has 4 points, the U.S. and England each 2, and Algeria 1. The U.S. has its own destiny in its hands; a win means it moves forward with five points, regardless of how England vs. Slovenia plays out. The U.S. also moves forward with a tie if Slovenia and England draw at 0-0 or 1-1 (for any draw higher, the U.S. would have to draw at a goal higher as well to progress; i.e., a 2-2 Eng/Slo draw would require a 1-1 U.S./Alg draw).

This is all because the first World Cup tiebreaker in group play is Goal Differential (goals scored minus goals allowed), and the second tiebreaker is total Goals For. Right now, Slovenia is sitting on a +1 GD, the U.S. and England are at 0, and Algeria is at -1. For Goals For, Slovenia and the U.S. both have 3, the English just one, and Algeria none.

If both the U.S. and England win, they'll both move forward. Who finishes first in the group (thus getting a hypothetically easier draw in the Round of 16) depends on who wins bigger next Wednesday (remember, GD is the first tiebreaker and the U.S. and England are currently even on that front).

Whether it'll be a blessing or a curse to come out of group first is yet to be seen; the winner of Group C plays the Group D runner up, and Germany fell 0-1 to Serbia today, with best-in-Africa Ghana yet to come.