With 7 months before the beginning of Anglo–American hostilities at the Battle of Rustenburg, I’m hoping Coach Bob Bradley borrows a page from General George Washington’s successful strategy for winning the Revolutionary War: don’t over–commit in any part of the battlefield, strategically conceding the meaningless possession game, and wait to strike and take advantage when you can. If he does, maybe another 6-5 victory awaits.

But seriously, while not quite as jubilant as many American players and fans seemed to puzzlingly be at drawing England’s Group C in Cape Town, England isn’t New Zealand after all, but it clearly was the weakest of the seeded teams in the draw, with the exception of tournament hosts South Africa. Personally I would much rather not take my chances in running into the buzz–saw of Bafana–Bafana adrenaline that may be El Tri’s fate in the tournament kickoff on June 11.

Combine that with what is sure to be mind–crushing pressure from the manic–depressive English media to beat the upstart Yanks, plus the American team’s history of generally playing above themselves when confronted with strong challenges, and I don't dis–like our chances of coming away with a needed result for a strong start to the 2010 campaign.

The fact that all we need is a draw to feel like a success makes the pressure differential between what our players are feeling compared to the English camp is even better. Realistically both teams only need a point leading into the next two games against relatively weaker opposition, but I think anybody with any experience reading the hysterical Chicken Little English press would have a hard time believing that England’s Lions would get anything less than a barracking without a dominant victory over the US.

That all being said, 7 months is an eternity in soccer, especially when for 6 of those months everybody practically except our boys in Major League Soccer will be playing week in, week out, and anything can happen between now and then.

Clint Dempsey is riding high in the first half of his season at Fulham in the English Premier League, and Jozy Altidore is finally getting his chances as a starter at Hull, but either could find the post–holiday session much less pleasant.

Or Tim Howard could have another uncharacteristic run of bad form similar to what doomed him at Old Trafford back in 2004/2005. Oguchi Onyewu and Charlie Davies could recuperate in time to take back their roster spots and starting roles only to be physically fit, but lacking timing and/or touch (the latter not Onyewu’s strong point anyway), and the whole house could collapse like Claudio Reyna's knee against Ghana in Germany 2006.

Plus, despite Landon Donovan’s proclamations of how thoroughly Coach Bradley and his staff have the US Men prepared for each and every game, you have to wonder what is the cause for the completely erratic performances that the team has displayed in 2009: from the highs of another 2-0 victory vs. Mexico in Columbus in February, and an even bigger/better, monumental 2-0 win vs. FIFA Number 1–ranked Spain in the Confederations Cup Semifinal, to the lows of a not-unexpected second half collapse and blown 2–goal lead vs. Brazil in the Final, topped by a meaningless, but still miserable 5-0 drubbing at the hands of Méx&ico in the Gold Cup Final.

Donovan’s absolutely right that “…it’s up to individual players, too, to take time to learn the players, watch them in the coming months if you get a chance to and figure out who exactly you’re playing against.” (Post Draw Quote Sheet: Players' Reactions From The FIFA World Cup Draw)

I just hope the rest of our players can take the same focus and commitment to their preparation for that first game and the rest of the tournament that Donovan demonstrated in 2009, particularly with his MVP performance for the LA Galaxy, to say nothing of the competitive fires accompanied by maturity in the bellies of Carlos Bocanegra and Tim Howard, as well as Coach Bradley himself.

I’ll add to that my hope that Bradley the Younger (Michael that is) can maintain his composure for 90+ minutes (at least). Lord, help us if Bradley the Elder doubles down on the bulldog-in-the-middle quotient and decides to throw Ricardo Clark in there instead of the cooler head and more stylish play of Benny Feilhaber.

While we wait to see what actually comes to pass, you can keep up–to–date with all of the latest hyper-ventilations and media frenzy right up to game–time vs. England here:
(US vs. England (June 12, 2010-World Cup Group C)
(last updated June 3)).

In the meantime, I’ll be doing my best to get up to speed on Slovenia and Algeria to share what I find that may be of interest or worth shortly.
(US vs. Slovenia (June 18, 2010-World Cup Group C)
(last updated December 14))
(US vs. Algeria (June 23, 2010-World Cup Group C)
(last updated February 19))