Why the United States Should Be Wary of Their Group Draw

After the group draws were made on December 4, all 32 nations now have half a year to learn about the teams in their group stage, and what is needed for advancement.

Some of these nations such as Italy and Spain have easy draws and have their eyes locked on the knockout stage while other nations such as South Africa and Portugal will look at their draw and wonder how they will advance.

For the United States, they got an easier draw than in 2006 when they had Italy, Ghana, and the Czech Republic all in the Group of Death with themselves, as they got England, Algeria, and Slovenia.

After looking at the draw, one could say that the United States could build upon their South African luck from the previous summer's Confederation Cup, as they will have England in their first game, and will have Slovenia and Algeria in their final two games of the Group stage.

However, the fans/skeptics of the United States must not put their first match against England as their most important match-up, and this should also go for US coach Bob Bradley, as the United States must not over prepare for this game.

Even if the United States could manage to beat England, they will only get three points, which will clearly not be enough for advancement into the knockout stage.

If the United States over prepare against England, it could possibly cause the US team's chances of advancing to flush away, especially against two sides in Algeria and Slovenia that could beat the United States.

The match-up with England is indeed mouthwatering, but Algeria are a side that will have more support due to the fact that they are an African nation, and Slovenia were able to beat Russia in their UEFA World Cup playoff, and could surprise anyone on any given day.

Finally, if this is the year for the United States to make a deep run in the World Cup, they must look beyond their match-up with England and focus on Algeria and Slovenia, which both hold the key for the United States advancement.