June 22, 2010
 
U.S. MNT World Cup Update: Pretoria, South Africa
 
Special to Huntingtonnews.net
From U.S. Soccer
 
FIRST TWO ROUNDS OF GROUP PLAY IN THE BOOKS: Every team has played its first two games of the 2010 FIFA World Cup with the games starting with a shortage of goals and ended with a surplus of surprises. Only two teams have been mathematically eliminated, Cameroon and Korea DPR, and only two have clinched passage to the Round of 16, Netherlands & Brazil. Gonzalo Higuain’s hat trick leads all scorers with three goals, and only Brazil, Germany and Portugal have scored more goals as a team than the Argentine and the 2006 finalists, Italy and France, have combined for three total goals. Tuesday kicks off four-straight days of four games per day, with the action kicking off at 4 p.m. local time (10 a.m. ET) as Mexico faces Uruguay and South Africa faces France in the final set of games in Group A.
 
U.S. CONTROLS DESTINY: The U.S. has its sole focus a win against Algeria in the final Group C match on Wednesday, June 23, at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria. With a win, the U.S. will advance to the Round of 16 for the third time in the last five FIFA World Cups. A tie and certain results in the England-Slovenia match that kicks off at the same time would also see the U.S. advance. There are also scenarios in which a U.S. victory could clinch the top position in Group C. Wednesday’s match kicks off at 4 p.m. local time (10 a.m. ET) and will be broadcast live on ESPN and Univision, as well as online and on the radio in both English and Spanish.
 
USA SCENARIOS:
 
USA Advances:
 
•U.S. win
•U.S. tie and England loss
•Tie and England-Slovenia tie, and the U.S. maintains it’s +2 goals scored advantage (USA 3 GF, England 1 GF)
 
USA Eliminated:
 
•U.S. tie and England win
•Lose
 
USA Advances and Wins Group:
 
•Win by a greater goal difference than England wins by
•Win and England win by same goal differential while the U.S. maintains its +2 goals scored advantage
•Win by two or more goals and England / Slovenia tie
•Win by one goal and England / Slovenia tie while scoring more goals than Slovenia
 
Group C Standings
 
Team GP W L T GF GA GD Pts.
SVN 2 1 0 1 3 2 +1 4
USA 2 0 0 2 3 3 0 2
ENG 2 0 0 2 1 1 0 2
ALG 2 0 1 1 0 1 -1 1