The Americans dominated for large stretches on Friday night against a team many thought would hand them a painful lesson
There’s a saying in fashion that two is a coincidence but three is a trend. Say what you want about the United States still having never lost to England at the World Cup and the abbreviated sample size behind it, but there must by now be something about the Americans’ habit of elevating their game when they meet the English on soccer’s biggest stage.
They met for the first time in 1950, when an American team of amateurs and college kids famously bucked the odds and marred England’s tournament debut with a 1-0 stunner in Belo Horizonte. Then came a 1-1 draw six decades later in South Africa, when Rob Green’s goalkeeping gaffe cancelled out Steven Gerrard’s early strike.
