USA 2 Slovenia 2: Great game, great quotes, a clear injustice

THE USA were denied one of the great World Cup comebacks when Mali referee Koman Coulibaly ruled out a dramatic last-gasp winner against plucky Slovenia at Ellis Park.

Mali don’t often feature at the top level of football. But Coulibaly will certainly grab a few headlines in the morning. Quite how he disallowed America’s 86^th minute winner from Maurice Edu, I’m not sure. Suffice to say there was plenty of pushing and shoving going on. Mostly by desperate Slovenians.

Here then, after the best game of the World Cup so far, the best quotes of the tournament, from the USA’s best player, Landon Donovan.

Man of the match Donovan, who scored the USA’s first and thought he’d made the clincher for Edu in the 86^th minute, said: “I’m a little gutted to be honest, I don’t know how they stole that goal from us. That’s too bad, it was a fair goal I think. I saw a good finish and a good goal. The referee wouldn’t tell us what the call was. We asked but he wouldn’t say.

“It was the guy’s first World Cup game. Maybe he got caught up in the moment. You can’t take away a good goal from a team. In a World Cup that’s disappointing.

“At half-time, 2-0 down, we said if we don’t believe it, there’s no point in going back out there. We know we’re good enough. We’re still alive. We’ll see how the England game goes. We can’t keep putting ourselves in a hole like that. If we win against Algeria we should still go through. Emotionally we have to get ourselves up again.

“But you know I’m proud of our guys. I’m not sure there are many teams who would respond in that way after going 2-0 down.”

Everton boss David Moyes, who had Donovan on loan last season, said on the BBC: "I've just seen that disallowed goal again - and not only was there no foul by a US player, there are probably two penalty-kick offences being committed by the Slovenian defenders. Shocking decision."

England don’t kick off for another three hours and already I’m exhausted. Just told local listeners on South Africa’s 702 radio they cannot turn their back on their country after Bafana Bafana’s 3-0 defeat against Uruguay. And the callers came on, embarrassed they had left Loftus Versfeld early the other night.

Don’t worry, if England lose against Algeria tonight, I’ll be sorely tempted. Got to do BBC Radio 5 tonight, hope it’s a cheerful occasion. Then Detroit’s WJR at 6.40am Eastern time tomorrow across 17 American states.

Will I make it? Phew. After Serbia’s dramatic 1-0 win over Germany, the Slovenians kept us glued to our seats.

They started with a 13^th minute rocket from Valter Birsa, the first undeflected goal from distance at this World Cup, using the ultra-light Jabulani ball. After sustained American pressure, they produced a second, a lovely Zlatan Ljubijankic finish which looked offside but wasn’t - quite.

Donovan put the Americans right back in the game with a great strike into the roof of the net from the narrowest of angles just three minutes into the second half. The World Cup’s smallest side, Slovenia (population 2.3m) were hanging on against the biggest, the USA (pop 3.2m) but remember, the tiny mountainous nation, the northernmost of the old Yugoslavian federations, generally consider skiing to be their national sport.

But the miracle couldn’t last. The US levelled through Michael Bradley, son of coach Bob, and it was game on as the Americans went crazy – some of their fans, the most numerous here, burst into tears in the chilly Ellis Park stands.

This was where South Africa won the Rugby World Cup in 1995, where Nelson Mandela’s support inspired the Hollywood movie Invictus. And as if this one too was scripted, with the Americans playing an incredibly offensive 3-4-3 formation, in came Edu to score with four minutes left on the clock. But it was disallowed by Koulibaly, who had been handing out yellow cards like confetti. Was it off-side? Was it a foul? I guess we will never know. But we know this. The World Cup was denied its greatest moment so far.

Jozy Altidor and both Bradley’s were losing it with the novice Mali referee. And English fans were celebrating. A draw is probably the best result they could have hoped for. If Fabio Capello’s men beat Algeria tonight. But that’s a sizeable IF.

Neal Collins is in South Africa to promote his first novel A GAME APART, the real story behind the 2010 World Cup. For more information, see www.nealcollins.co.uk.

To see the two goals that rocked America, see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHYlWHrVcG0

Altitude and Altidore The Threat To England In Jozyburg

IT’S the game primed to decide the whole tone of the World Cup. England versus the USA, Group C, at the Royal Bafokeng Soccer Palace near Rustenburg on June 12.

This remote venue – built by the local tribal king with his vast platinum profits - will play host to the two nations responsible for the highest foreign tickets sales in what has been, up to now, a difficult market.

England see it as a chance to reverse their worst ever World Cup result – the infamous 1-0 defeat at Belo Horizonte in 1950 – but Hull’s Jozy Altidore, as we shall hear later, reckons his lot are in for a crack at the final after their success at the Confederations Cup in South Africa last year.

It’s a good 90 minutes across the single-track Hartebeespoort Dam wall from Johannesburg (also known, ironically, as Jozy) and Pretoria, and it could be a damn wall by the time the fans bottle-neck it in early June. After the vast, scenic reservoir, the R4 to Rustenburg is a toll road, the alternative roads are pot-holed (but being repaired, I’m told) as you drive through 60 miles of platinum mines and shanty towns, punctuated by huge fruit farms.

This is the road to Sun City, the golf and gambling paradise. And it’s always been a risk. If the fans don’t turn up for this one, it will be a very poor start for Africa’s first World Cup.

Both sides –given their FIFA rankings - are expected to qualify from a group which also features Algeria (27) and Slovenia (29). England (8) are scheduled to return to the Palace – just four miles from their World Cup base at the Royal Marang Hotel - for their first knock-out game as Group C winners (their plans to stay near high-altitude Rustenburg have been in place for 18 months which is why I’ve always suggested the World Cup draw was fixed, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26B6civ-8qk, a video recorded after the draw on December 4). The USA (16), as runners-up, will head for Bloemfontein, which ain’t a holiday resort. No sir.

That’s why the Yanks won’t want to lose this one. They’ll want to see off England and play the Group D runners-up in Rustenburg, disturbing England’s carefully laid preparations. That would send England on the 500 mile journey to Bloemfontein, capital of the Orange Free State, traditionally the heart of Afrikaner country. And they don’t much like the English (don’t bother yourself, this grudge goes back to 1888 and a series of Bore Wars, sorry Boer Wars).

Talking of wars, Group D, of course, is a bit of a group of death. Kind of a gathering of gloom. It contains Germany (6), Australia (19), Serbia (15) and Ghana (31). My guess is Germany will win it, Ghana will finish second. And I know who I’d rather play, especially with Chelsea’s Michael Essien expressing doubts today over his knee before Africa’s greatest footballing month.

So who is perfectly placed to look ahead to this crunch game, the scene-setter for the two best-followed nations in South Africa on June 12? The Americans have several players operating in England – their star man Landon Donovan came over on loan with Everton, crocked our left-back Ashley Cole (accidentally of course) and went home to prepare.

But Altidore, the huge, lightning-quick Hull winger, will stay to the bitter end of the Premier League season, with compatriots Tim Howard (Everton), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Jonathan Spector (West Ham), Marcus Hahnemann (Wolves) and club-mate Boaz Myhill.

Josmar Volmy Altidore, all muscle and pace, is still just 20 but he is a definite in a tricky squad selection for coach Bob Bradley.

Altidore, skating over the twin disasters of a car crash involving his mate and fellow US international Charlie Davies and the earthquake in his parents’ Haiti, says: “As we found out in the Confederations Cup in South Africa last year, anything can happen. Italy and Spain were there but we were beating Brazil 2-0 in the final.

“We had the win in the bag. That’s what we thought. But you can’t do that against a team of Brazil’s calibre and we lost 3-2. But it was a good lesson to learn.

“I think that all of us agree that we’re in a group which will allow us to play our football. We’ll be up against a world force in England and two quick teams in Slovenia and Algeria, and I think these opponents really suit our style of play.”

Nothing to be scared of then, for the lad from Livingstone, New Jersey? “We're never scared,” he grins, “We’re really looking forward to the England game. I think that we’re capable of beating anybody on our day and there’s no team in the world that can beat us easily.

“We’re up to the challenge and the English will realise that when we meet them. It'll be a tough match; no team can walk over us.

But Altidore admits: “I’ve been through a lot over the last two or three years that people don’t know about. I was trying to put the car accident behind me when the earthquake struck in Haiti. I’ve still got family there but you have to be strong and not let the sadness weigh you down.

“Even before all that I had family issues which stopped me from focusing completely on football. They affected my performances. Things are better now and I’ve vowed to myself that this will be the year I return to the very top, taking full advantage of the World Cup. I'll be getting back to doing what I love.”

Altidore insists playing for lowly relegation candidates Hull is no bad thing. He grins: “It’s very different to Villarreal and New York, where I played before.

“I knew moving to England wouldn’t be easy. I was aware I was joining a team where I wasn’t going to score lots of goals. It was a challenge and a decision that I’d really thought through. I don’t regret it at all.

“Things are different at Hull. We’re battling against relegation. That makes every goalscoring opportunity, every point and every win valuable.

“I was the first American to score in La Liga. Being the first American to score in a World Cup final would be unbelievable - but it’s very possible. Just look at the Confederations Cup.”