England Vs Slovenia World Cup 2010 Live Blog: Results, Scores and Play by Play

Hello.  Colm Larkin here, Bleacher Reporter writer and your guide through this crucial Group C match between England and Slovenia. England’s poor start to the World Cup leaves it needing to this game to ensure qualification for the knock-out stages, while Slovenia only needs a draw to book its place in the second round.

So if you can’t get to a TV why not follow all the drama and excitement here? You can join the conversation by posting your comments below.

FINAL ANALYSIS

USA has beaten Algeria and wins Group C. England qualify as runners-up.

Decent performance from England, though Slovenia didn't really show up. With tough second round opponents from Group D to come, more improvement is needed from Fabio Capello's team.

Thanks for your company.

FULL-TIME England 1 Slovenia 0

And Donovan has just scored for the USA!

England is in the second round. And Slovenia has just had it heart broken by what might be late US winner.

Algeria has just had Yahia sent off. Two minutes for USA to hold on.

93 min. God Save the Queen rings around the stadium as the vuvuzelas finally add to the din. England has been holding the ball by the Slovenian corner flag to run down the clock.

91 min. But Slovenia very nearly did. Upson had to make a brilliant tackle in the box to deny the substitute Matavz. Brave and perfectly timed by the West Ham defender.

Three minutes of added time. England fans are starting to celebrate.

89 min. England totally on the backfoot now. Slovenia is pushing forward though without really looking like scoring.

85 min. Substitution. Defoe off, Heskey on. Time to hoof it up to the big man. Meanwhile, Slovenia has a corner. Doesn't Capello know you should never make a chance when you're defending a corner. Fortunately for the Italian it's a rubbish corner.

83 min. Great slow motion shots of both coaches going beserk on the sidelines. It can't be good for your health, that job.

79 min. Slovenia just can't get out of its own half at the moment. England is pushing the Slovenians  without really creating chances.

Substitution for Sloveia. Krim off, Matavz on. That's a foward for a midfielder. Looks like Slovenia is going for broke here. With nothing to lose, why not?

73 min. Substitution. Joe Cole is on for England. That will please Rebel Rebel John Terry. Rooney is off. Another frustrating day at the office for Wayne Rooney. There were signs in the second half that he was getting there, but today he has been outshone by his strike partner Defoe today.

70 min. Slovenia go close twice. A shot by Ljubijankic is brilliantly blocked by Terry, who got up and threw himself in front of a second shot. He didn't make it but fortuntately for England, Johnson was there to prevent an equalizer.

66 min. Looks like the USA-Algeria second half kicked a few minutes later than this game. Still scoreless though. And as Slovenia form its first meaningful attack in a while (that comes to nothing) you can feel the tension grow. Isn't this fun?

61 min. The Rooney shot that hit the post was another great save from Handanovic. Without him, Slovenia would be out of this game. The East Europeans have been very disappointing in this game, not showing any of the slick passing and inteligent running shown in that first half against USA.

58 min. Milner is doing well down the right. He is good at finding space and his crosses have generally been good.

Ohh, Handanovic makes a great save from John Terry header on an England corner.

And Rooney has just hit the post!

It's all going off here.

56 min. Rooney had another good opportunity after great link-up play between him and Gerrard, but he was closed down by the Slovenians. The striker is definitely getting into this game now, but still doesn't seem as sharp as you'd expect.

54 min. Slovenia seems to think that David James is an England weakeness. Everytime it has a freekick in sight of goal it is hit straight at the goalkeeper, as if the Slovenian players believe he might fumble it.

51 min. England has a goal ruled out for outside. But unlike in the USA's game, this was a good call. Both Rooney and Defoe was offside as the Manchester United player passed for Defoe to finish.

48 min. Early chance for Defoe as he hooked the ball wide right in front of goal.

Apparently the groundstaff were out trying to repair the pitch during the halftime interval. It is really cutting up, especially around the middle of the field.

46 min. England kicks off the second half. 45 minutes to hold this lead. Slovenia doesn't need to score at the moment, but a USA goal will put it out.

HALF-TIME

Looks like USA has been denied by another bad call. Dempsey had the ball in the back of the net but the referee ruled it out for offside. The Fulham player was definitely on. Let's hope that isn't the game's decisive moment because unless Slovenia equalizes here, USA is going home at 0-0.

45 min. HALF-TIME England 1 Slovenia 0

Defoe seems to have made a huge difference to England. With Heskey in the team England tends to launch it long to him. The much smaller Defoe requires more intelligent passes to feet or balls behind the defense, so England midfielders need to think a bit more. So far, it seems to be working.

Still 0-0 in the USA-Algeria match. See you in ten minutes.

41 min. Nothing much is happening in the game at the moment. Frank Lampard seemed to be distracted by the lack of action and gave the ball away with a slack pass but Slovenia could not capitalize.

36 min. There's a real lack of vuvuzelas at this game. You can actually hear the English fans singing. Though they are noticeably quieter since the goal. Now that their team has a lead to protect, everybody's too nervous to sing.

31 min. Two more great chances for Defoe and Gerrard, but Handanovic is really bailing him team out here. Slovenia is struggling to cope. It's reminiscent of the 2nd half against USA.

30 min. It is still 0-0 in the other game, so if it was to remain like this both England and Slovenia would go through.

28 min. That should have been two. Another great cross from Milner was taken off Defoe's toe by Handanovic, it fell to Lampard who should have scored but blazed over the crossbar.

England is looking much more relaxed now with Defoe making up for the lack of Wayne Rooney. Rooney is on the pitch, just not doing very much.

22 min. GOAL! England 1-0 (Defoe)

Great cross from the right by Milner was well finished by Defoe. It actually came off his shin and went straight at Handanovic, but it was too close for the keeper to stop it. I told you Defoe had striking instinct.

19 min. England had two corners in succession. Rebel Without a Cause John Terry almost connected with one of them. Probably should have done better really.

15 min. England just kicked the ball back to the Slovenian goalkeeper, after Slovenia put it out for an injury. It went by Jermaine Defoe on its way and you could see him almost try and connect with it. That's pure striking instinct for you.

A Lampard free-kick from 30 yards is well held by Handanovic.

10 min. Despite the boos with which they greeted the final whistle in the Algeria game, it looks like England's fans are out in force in Port Elizabeth. That's loyal support for ya, as Wayne Rooney might say. Corner to England. Nothing comes of it.

8 min. Terry gave the ball away in a very dangerous position but nothing came of it. So far, England is dominating possession but not really doing anything with it and Slovenia looks comfortable.

3 min. Early sign of nerves for England as Glen Johnson completely misses a clearance. The pressure on these players is immense.

1 min. We're off! Slovenia in white gets the game underway. England is playing in red.

Pre-match

Fabio Capello is reported as saying, "I'm not crazy, I believe England can win the World Cup". Surely, starting any sentence with the words "I'm not crazy" is a general indication that the speaker may be a few sandwiches short of a picnic.

President Bartlett is doing a voice-over on an intro piece for ESPN. He's having a little dig at England. Ha ha. I'd be happy if Martin Sheen was co-commentating this game. Instead we have Efan Ekoku, the ex-footballer who doesn't understand the offside rule, alongside the excellent Martin Tyler.

Team news

Fabio Capello realizing that his team actually needs to score, has finally dropped Emile Heskey and Tottenham's Jermaine Defoe comes into the team.  After being substituted in the first-half against USA, James Milner is back in the side in place of Aaron Lennon.  Matthew Upson fills in for the injured Jamie Carragher at center-back.

Slovenia is unchanged from the team that drew 2-2 with the USA.

England (4-4-2)

James
Johnson – Terry – Upson – A. Cole
Milner – Lampard – Barry – Gerrard
Rooney – Defoe

Slovenia (4-4-2)

S. Handanovic
Brecko – Suler – Cesar – Jokic
Birsa – Koren – Radosavljevic – Kirm
Ljubijankic – Novakovic

Pre-match build-up

Tension is building amongst English fans all over the world as they contemplate the unthinkable: England exiting the World Cup after the first round.

Quite simply, Fabio Capello’s team must win to guarantee qualification from the group, a result that Slovenia needs to avoid.

With this group being so tight, there are a number of other permutations for each team and a lot will depend on the result of USA vs. Algeria, which is being played simultaneously. 

I’ll keep you updated on any goals from that match, but if you want a run-down on all the possible Group C outcomes check out this article .