The difference is now Slovenia is in the drivers seat in the group. They can just pack the backfield in order to prevent scoring opportunities and try to capitalize on a quick counter attack as the US is pressing players up to score.

This is not what you want to see with our D. Especially if Howard is unable to play.

Is Algeria going to do that? No.

If we get one win and one draw in the next two games we will advance. I would prefer two wins.

If Howard is not at least 90% a draw with Slovenia could be a challenge.

We have to score against them and not give up the quick counter attack.

England won't dick up again. I see them taking maximum points from Algeria. With that said, this upcoming game against Slovenia is HUGE. Here our the possible outcomes, all taking into account that England handily destroys Algeria.

If the Slovenia defeats the U.S:

SLOVENIA 2-0-0 6 pts.
ENGLAND 1-1-0 4 pts.
UNITED STATES 0-1-1 1 pts.
ALGERIA 0-0-2 0 pts.

-Slovenia will already be through to the next round with six points
-England will be ahead of the U.S by three points WITH goal differential and playing a Slovenian team with nothing to play for in the last group game.
-for us to head to Round 2, the U.S would need to pound the ever loving shit out of Algeria and hope that Slovenia does the same against England (not likely...at all)

Basically, we'd need to rely on an inferior Slovenian team that doesn't care what happens in the last group game to win and allow us passage at the expense of England. All that adds up to booking an early flight back to the U.S before the last group game kicks off....

If the U.S ties with Slovenia:

ENGLAND 1-1-0 4 pts.
SLOVENIA 1-1-0 4 pts.
UNITED STATES 0-2-0 2 pts.
ALGERIA 0-0-2 0 pts.

-the U.S game with Algeria becomes a MUST WIN game (and the bigger the blowout, the better!)
-the Slovenia-England game will be hotly contested, but the U.S is still alive regardless of the result of the game. Obviously though, to sway from resorting to goal differential as a tiebreaker, we would want to root for a clear winner to come out of this game.

If the U.S defeats Slovenia:

ENGLAND 1-1-0 4 pts.
UNITED STATES 1-1-0 4 pts.
SLOVENIA 1-0-1 3 pts.
ALGERIA 0-0-2 0 pts.

-the U.S game with Algeria, while important, is not necessarily a "must win" game. However, a win or draw will put us into the knockout stages.
-the Slovenia-England game will be of no consequence to the U.S. However, if for some wacky reason that Algeria does beat the U.S, we would be rooting for either a draw, an England win or in the absolute worst case, a Slovenia win by about fifty goals.

All in all, as you can see, this game with Slovenia is absolutely crucial. Our options improving for Knockout qualification our directly related to how we fare in this upcoming game. At the very least, we must gain at least a point from the Slovenian game or else, we're boned.

It's quite suprising to me that the Japanese are outplaying Camaroon, though Camaroon are playing much better in the second half

ROFL

I gotta say...the breakdowns of all these "what ifs" concerning our group in this thread is some of the stupidest shit I have seen. It is group play...all this stuff is obvious...and painting it like the US should be super worried about this and that is dumb. It is completely in our hands.

On a board with Dane McCloud and GoChiefs, and THAT is the stupidest shit you've ever read? :shake:

It is. As if a tie between two teams and then one team beating the other in the first part of group play is some huge game changer that means the US really needs to focus on beating their next opponent. As if that wasn't already the plan.

Where have I heard that before. ;)

I'm not sure, but I think our new strategy might be to score more points than the other team.

Chip Brown reports Bob Bradley out as USMNT coach. Herm Edwards flying to South Africa to replace him. Story developing.

If Herm was around for that last group game in the Confederations Cup when the U.S slipped by Italy for the last spot in the Knockout round, would he tell the media how we didn't "back into this thing"?

It doesn't change the plan that we want to win but it completely changes how we have to play the game.

All the pressure is now on the US.

This.