All eyes in America are on Group C –well, all eyes that care about soccer in any case–with the United States matching up against the powerhouse squad from England. Gametime is 2:30 on Saturday. Algeria plays Slovenia on Sunday.
Let’s break it down, to help get a better idea of USA’s chances today, as well as their chances to advance:
| United States – Players in the top 5 European leagues | ||||||
| Name | Position | Team | League | OR | DR | TR |
| Brad Guzan* | Goal | Aston Villa | England | +1.29 | +1.29 | |
| Carlos Bocanegra | Full | Rennes | France | +0.16 | +0.16 | +0.31 |
| Marcus Hahnemann | Goal | Wolverhampton | England | +0.29 | +0.29 | |
| Clint Dempsey | Mid | Fulham | England | +0.04 | +0.15 | +0.19 |
| Stuart Holden | Mid | Bolton | England | -0.42 | +0.52 | +0.11 |
| Tim Howard | Goal | Everton | England | +0.04 | +0.04 | |
| Oguchi Onyewu* | Full | Milan | Italy | -1.28 | +1.26 | -0.01 |
| Michael Bradley | Mid | Borussia | Germany | +0.00 | -0.16 | -0.16 |
| Steve Cherundulo | Full | Hannover | Germany | -0.04 | -0.19 | -0.23 |
| Jozy Altidore | Fwd | Hull City | England | +0.22 | -0.46 | -0.24 |
| Jonathan Spector | Full | West Ham | England | -0.09 | -0.25 | -0.35 |
| Ricardo Clark* | Mid | Frankfurt | Germany | +0.51 | -0.96 | -0.46 |
| England – Players in the top 5 European leagues | ||||||
| Name | Position | Team | League | OR | DR | TR |
| Joe Cole | Mid | Chelsea | England | +0.89 | +0.21 | +1.10 |
| Frank Lampard | Mid | Chelsea | England | +0.40 | +0.41 | +0.81 |
| John Terry | Full | Chelsea | England | +0.33 | +0.41 | +0.74 |
| Michael Carrick | Mid | Man. United | England | +0.42 | +0.25 | +0.67 |
| Wayne Rooney | Fwd | Man. United | England | +0.37 | +0.29 | +0.66 |
| Ashley Cole | Full | Chelsea | England | +0.26 | +0.35 | +0.61 |
| Jamie Carragher | Full | Liverpool | England | +0.22 | +0.29 | +0.51 |
| Steven Gerrard | Mid | Liverpool | England | +0.16 | +0.33 | +0.49 |
| Michael Dawson | Full | Tottenham | England | +0.14 | +0.27 | +0.41 |
| Shaun Wright-Phillips | Mid | Man. City | England | +0.28 | +0.07 | +0.35 |
| Jermain Defoe | Fwd | Tottenham | England | +0.20 | +0.10 | +0.30 |
| Aaron Lennon | Mid | Tottenham | England | +0.22 | +0.05 | +0.27 |
| James Milner | Mid | Aston Villa | England | +0.08 | +0.15 | +0.23 |
| Glen Johnson | Full | Liverpool | England | +0.12 | +0.05 | +0.18 |
| Gareth Barry | Mid | Man. City | England | +0.22 | -0.07 | +0.15 |
| Emile Heskey | Fwd | Aston Villa | England | -0.20 | +0.27 | +0.07 |
| Joe Hart | Goal | Man. City | England | +0.04 | +0.04 | |
| Peter Crouch | Fwd | Tottenham | England | +0.07 | -0.05 | +0.02 |
| Stephen Warnock | Full | Aston Villa | England | -0.01 | +0.02 | +0.01 |
| Ledley King | Full | Tottenham | England | -0.11 | +0.13 | +0.01 |
| Matthew Upson | Full | West Ham | England | -0.07 | +0.02 | -0.05 |
| Robert Green | Goal | West Ham | England | -0.10 | -0.10 | |
| David James | Goal | Portsmouth | England | -0.30 | -0.30 | |
| Slovenia – Players in the top 5 European leagues | ||||||
| Name | Position | Team | League | OR | DR | TR |
| Rene Krhin* | Mid | Internazionale | Italy | -0.46 | +1.26 | +0.80 |
| Valter Birsa | Fwd | Auxerre | France | +0.04 | +0.41 | +0.46 |
| Bostjan Cesar | Full | Grenoble | France | -0.04 | +0.03 | -0.01 |
| Samir Handanovic | Goal | Udinese | Italy | -0.14 | -0.14 | |
| Miso Brecko | Full | Koln | Germany | -0.16 | +0.00 | -0.16 |
| Milivoje Novakovic | Fwd | Koln | Germany | -0.18 | -0.09 | -0.28 |
| Bojan Jokic | Full | Chievo | Italy | -0.25 | -0.04 | -0.30 |
| Robert Koren | Mid | West Bromwich | England | -0.23 | -0.35 | -0.58 |
| Zlatko Dedic* | Fwd | Bochum | Germany | -0.45 | -0.47 | -0.92 |
| Algeria – Players in the top 5 European leagues | ||||||
| Name | Position | Team | League | OR | DR | TR |
| Foued Kadir* | Mid | Valenciennes | France | +0.06 | +0.16 | +0.23 |
| Karim Zaini | Mid | Wolfsburg | Germany | -0.05 | +0.19 | +0.13 |
| Hassan Yebda* | Mid | Portsmouth | England | -0.10 | +0.08 | -0.02 |
| Ryad Boudebouz | Mid | Sochaux | France | -0.25 | +0.09 | -0.15 |
| Adlene Guedioura* | Mid | Wolverhampton | England | -0.19 | -0.01 | -0.19 |
| Karim Matmour | Fwd | Borussia | Germany | -0.04 | -0.15 | -0.19 |
| Mehdi Lacen | Mid | Santander | Spain | -0.04 | -0.17 | -0.21 |
| Yazid Mansouri | Mid | Lorient | France | -0.06 | -0.25 | -0.31 |
| Abdelkader Ghezzal | Fwd | Siena | Italy | -0.25 | -0.07 | -0.32 |
| Djamed Abdoun* | Mid | Nantes | France | +0.05 | -0.48 | -0.43 |
| Habib Bellaid | Full | Frankfurt | Germany | -0.50 | +0.02 | -0.48 |
| Rafik Saifi* | Fwd | Istres | France | +0.05 | -0.62 | -0.57 |
| Nadir Belhadj | Full | Portsmouth | England | -0.15 | -0.44 | -0.59 |
| Antar Yahia | Full | Bochum | Germany | -0.32 | -0.27 | -0.59 |
*Limited minutes – Stats shown for “entertainment value” only.
Stacked with players from EPL-dominating Chelsea and Manchester United, England has a formidable lineup. USA might be better off with Hahnemann than Tim Howard in goal. There’s been big talk about Oguchi Onyewu, Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore, but their European numbers don’t back up that talk - yet.
Both Algeria and Slovenia have their share of players in Europe’s premier leagues, but as you can see above, they are generally lower quality players in these leagues.