Re: Countdown to American Elimination
Equally if some of the crosses England put in were a foot one way or the other they may have resulted in a goal. You're applying double standards saying if Altidore's shot was a little bit one way then it would have gone in whereas for England you're saying it was their own fault for missing. I would agree with either view point but you have to apply it equally. I think on the balance of the match England should have scored more goals than the USA and you could easily and justifiably put the fact that they didn't down to a combination of poor finishing, poor final balls into the box and poor goalkeeping. I don't think Rob Green would have been a man of the match candidate were it not for the goal because the only two contributions he made were (1) the goal where he cocked up and (2) Altidore's shot where he probably should have got more behind the parry anyway.
I chose to sum that up in the much shorter phrase "they were unlucky". If we're being pedantic then no I suppose it wasn't luck because yes the flight of the ball is entirely deterministic based on the deliberate actions of the players.
To try to change the subject (as it is getting a bit tired) Germany are currently steam rolling Australia. Unlucky anyone who gets Germany in the second round!