Like Switzerland’s hard-fought victory against Spain, such a feat will go down among the surprises in the tournament.
Slovenia – Can The Dream Go On?
The Slovenians enjoyed a dream start to their 2010 FIFA World Cup campaign when they saw out Algeria on a 1-0 score line. This victory on Match-day One earned them their first ever victory in a World Cup. As England and the USA drew against each other in Group C’s other fixture, Slovenia eventually held on to the first spot.
Now they will have to prove that the three points the picked up against the Algerians was no fluke and that after upsetting big nation Russia to reach South Africa, they also have what it takes to leave a good mark on the Black Continent by avoiding an early exit. The reality is that Slovenia will qualify into the next stage of the competition against all the odds if they shock the USA with a win on Friday.
Slovenia’s statistics are impressive. Not only have they recorded four victories on the trot, but they’ve also conceded only two goals and scored nine since then. Slovenia possess the shock value factor and this is something that opponents should be aware of. Will it be necessary for the Americans to be reminded of Slovenia’s successful path to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa?
USA – Aware And Ready
Drawing 1-1 against bitter rivals England was more a victory for the USA than anything less. Actually, they could have been in Algeria’s situation if Robert Green had not let himself down with the gaffe of the 2010 World Cup tournament. Clint Dempsey, whose long range strike resulted in the United States’ equalizer, branded Friday’s match as an important one. He said:
“If we lose, we are pretty much done. We cannot lose the next game. We have to get something out of it.
“We are not going to chase goals and leave ourselves open [against Slovenia]. We’ve still got some things to work on; just keeping the ball better, getting more chances, scoring more goals. We are not where we want to be.”
In a bold statement, USA midfielder and captain Landon Donovan judge the Slovenians and also gave out predictions about their opponents’ approach to the match on Friday.
“There is nothing flashy about them. They [Slovenia] aren’t going to be spectacular. But they are going to be solid and they are going to be very hard to beat," Donovan analyzed.
"With a win, Slovenia will qualify. It is hard to know if they are going to go all out to win, or be happy to get a point. We will have to adapt to how they play.”
USA fans will just hope that the team won’t be caught by lack of concentration in the early minutes of the game and thus lose it all out to Slovenia. Such a thing will not mean disaster though, but it will only put more pressure on the Americans to get a positive result against Algeria. In this case, they will have to do just like they did in the 2009 Confederations Cup when they managed to stun Egypt 3-0 in the last group game of the competition to therefore reach the semis of the competition at the expense of big flops Italy.
