England 1, US 1

Yesterday probably saw the marquee match-up of the First Round of World Cup play with the US facing off against England in the World Cup for the first time since 1950. (When the Americans shocked England 1-0.) And there are positives to be had all round and some worries for England as well.

First, the positives: for England, offensively they looked really good. Very free-form, pushing people up the sides and getting Rooney help in the form of Emile Heskey. It's game one of this World Cup and they looked like a fairly cohesive unit already. What pissed me off about the 2006 World Cup was that England had all the ingredients, but kept poor Rooney up there by himself trying to score goals. It never worked, they never adjusted and then Coach Sven Goran Eriksson kept trying to find the right formula right through to the quarterfinals and never did so. After one game, you were left with the sense that new Coach Fabio Capello is a lot closer to finding the right formula that Eriksson ever was.

For the US: WOW. The sheer experience of this team was obvious with the veterans like Bocanegra and Donovan making themselves felt in the midfield- but it was Altidore and Findley up front that were really impressive. I was really worried about England Player Jamie Carragher's ability to keep up with Altidore, he was that fast. Defensively, there were some lapses, especially towards the end of the game, but they swarmed Rooney and shut him down and with Tim Howard in goal, I honestly think this is the best US team we've ever seen in a World Cup- and teams big and small had better pay attention, because if you don't respect these guys, then they'll eat you alive.

The Biggest Worry: England needs to toughen up their rookie Goalkeeper Green STAT. They don't have depth at Goal right now and if they run up against teams like Argentina, who are very fast on the breakaway, they could get into trouble real fast. To be fair to Green though, that equalizer was a rookie mistake- one that I doubt he'll make again, but the biggest question has been Goalkeeper for awhile- and those questions continue for England. But all in all, great start for the US and England, while not dominate has promise to improve throughout the rest of group play. Both teams have all the ingredients for a deep, deep run into this tournament.