Even though Slovenia is the only team in Group C that has a win, the United States was favored in World Cup bets online at the sportsbook to defeat Slovenia.
The U.S. was a -230 fave on the money line with a total of 2.5 under. On the three-way soccer line the United States was Even, Slovenia was +270 and the Draw was +225. It was thought there might not be much scoring in this match as Slovenia only won 1 goal vs Algeria and it came when Algeria was down to 10 men when the US might only manage 1 vs England and it was a fortunate goal as the England goalkeeper terribly misplayed an simple shot.
In reality the game between England and the U.S. didn’t mean a whole lot with regards to advancing from Group C, although the U.S. feels good about their draw. This competition on Friday was far more critical. It was simply significant, specifically with Slovenia having gotten a victory vs Algeria. If the US had lost this match they were not going to make the knockout round. The US has to at the very least get a draw on Friday since England is not going to lose to Algeria.
The United States entered this competition on Friday as a fave which is not a role that the US is accustomed to. It could also be a issue. Landon Donovan has already said that Slovenia has pretty great squad chemistry and that the US squad needed to play very well or they’re in trouble. Slovenia looked to frustrate the United States team, being that they play defense 1st and foremost. Since the US would likely be out of the competition with a loss, Donovan has called this match a must-win.
This game on Friday was genuinely a tough one for the United States. There were high expectations for the US squad but there was no assurance they are going to conquer Slovenia. In reality, Slovenia’s Andrej Komac has already gone on record saying that his squad would conquer the US on Friday. Because Slovenia conquered Russia and the Czech Republic in qualifying, showing they’ve got the talent to compete at a high level, that would be an upset but not a major shock.
The competition wound up being a frustrating and controversial 1, as the U.S. looked to have won in a 3-2 victory at the last minute. A call from referee Koman Coulibaly took away the third goal from the US squad. Since he wasn’t required to explain himself, the call simply stood and the US ended up with a 2-2 tie rather than the win that they thought they had. They had come back from a 2-0 deficit, and had they won that game, would have pulled off a historic victory. The U.S. team is still not sure what foul was called and why the win was stolen from them. For his part, the referee who called the foul may be benched for the remainder of the World Cup for what has broadly been seen as a totally unfair call.