"The Miracle On Grass II?"

32 teams, 32 countries, all vying for the right to become King of the Football World. Oh sure, the usual suspects will be heavily favored, Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Spain Germany, you know the drill. Then of course there will be the one or two teams that pull off some first round upsets, Ghana, Mexico, and Greece.

Yawn, yawn, yawn, enough already.

Let's get to what might be the best opening round match-up of the tournament. The good old United States against the country that actually invented the beautiful game, England. It's true, look it up.

Of course it's not the first time the U.S. and England have done battle on African soil; after-all, the Americans did help the Brits out of a bit of a sticky wicket back in World War II, when General Patton teamed up with General Montgomery to Drive Rommel and his Afrika Korps out of Northern Africa and back to Germany.

Then of course there was that little tiff between the England and America back in 1775, something about a revolutionary something or other. Ah but yes, I do digress and apparently a bit too much.

As far as their respective battles on the football pitch, well victory has been a bit more lopsided in England’s favor. I do believe the Three Lions hold a 7-2 advantage in the series, following a 2-0 friendly over Bob Bradley and company back in May. Question is, can the U.S. shock England in that first round game June 12th at Rustenburg?  YES, yes they can.

Hey, all the U.S. has to do is draw a little inspiration from a guy named Joe Gaetjens . Come on, you know Joe don’t you? Really! Well Gaetjens scored the one and only goal for the United States in an opening round upset of England during the 1950 World Cup tournament in Brazil. They called it the “Miracle on Grass.” Yes, I know that was 60 years ago, but sometimes you just have to hold onto something and again try draw on a little inspiration.

Of course England is just one of three opponents the U.S. will face in the group stage. The Red White and Blue will also have to face Algeria and Slovenia. Despite whatever happens against England, the Americans will be favored against both of those teams and should tally enough points to advance to the next round for the first time since their quarterfinal run in 2002.