England 1 USA 1

A brooding annoyance!

That's the feeling I had after 10 minutes of the second half of England's first World Cup match against the USA last night.

I wasn't screaming or shouting at the telly. (that didn't happen for another 10 minutes) I was quietly seething, thinking to myself 'Here we go again, same old sh*t'

As I said to my friends, the only things that are certain in life are death, taxes, and unsatisfactory opening game performances by England in World Cups.

It all started so well, not that I saw it, as I was one of those millions of ITV HD viewers who missed Steven Gerrard's opening goal.
People seem to love bashing the BBC, but this was so typical of ITV. No wonder when it comes to events of national importance the BBC always wins hands down.

Despite Robert Green's horrendous error, England still had enough chances to have won. After 24 hours in which to reflect on the game a 1-1 draw isn't a disaster, but there was still something depressingly familiar about England's performance.

Emile Heskey was man of the match for me. How many people would have said that a week a go?

He only did one thing wrong and that was not scoring when he was one on one with Tim Howard. After him I thought Steven Gerrard had a good game.

I was a little disappointed with Wayne Rooney. For the first 50 minutes he was in Heskey's shadow, he didn't really impose himself on the game. You look at people like Rooney and think this is your moment. This is where you're meant to really prove yourself.

Worrying to see Ledley King go off, we won't need him for Algeria, but once you get to the knock out stages you want him to be fit.

I'm also hoping Joe Cole can have an impact at some stage. I'm sorry to say that when he came on I didn't really see the point of Shaun Wright Phillips.

Everyone made a big thing about Theo Walcott being left out of the squad, with Wright Phillips seeming to be the main beneficiary. But to be honest they're both as bad as each other. Erratic, with little or no end product.

I felt England lost their way following America's goal. They lost confidence and let the game drift for periods in the second half.

Regardless of how bad the error was from Green, it still had too much of a negative affect on the team.

We'll still qualify for the next round, but there was nothing in Saturday's performance to suggest that England are going to do anything out of the ordinary this time.

Anyway, the game's over now. There's nothing we can do except wait till this Friday. I'm not reading anything in the Press about England until then. All the comment and analysis doesn't mean anything.

I'm going to enjoy the World Cup, and not let England dominate my day to day thoughts.

Till next Friday