After the USA soccer—or football—team's surprising tie with the British team in its first match of the World Cup had American fans thrilling—and British ones cursing. One man, who traveled 15 hours from Ohio to watch the game in NYC, told the Post, "1776, one to zero. Now it's two to zero."
At Nevada Smith's, spectators were pumped. One told NY1, "It's incredible, man. I've never seen anything like it before, it's my first time at this bar. It's a great culture. I'm glad the English fans came out, too," and an English fan said, "This is great for the sport itself. I mean, today, for USA to draw with England, it's bigger than big. Nobody gave USA a chance, and I'll tell you right now it's opening up a whole new spectrum."
The Daily News amusingly rounds up the British news coverage: "'Hand of Clod,' read a headline from London's News of the World, a play on Diego Maradona's infamous 'Hand of God' goal in the 1986 World Cup. 'Shock 'N Draw. Yankee doddle to Yankee doodoo' read the headline accompanying the story. ('Doddle' is Brit slang for easily accomplished.) On its back page, the tabloid showed a photo of a dejected Green beside the phrase, 'Stars and Tripe.' The Sun was no less brutal: 'Curses! New keeper cock-up as Green gifts Yanks a point,' read its headline."
The Daily Mail reports that England's manager Fabio Capello "suggested the new World Cup ball was to blame for goalkeeper Robert Green's disastrous error which gifted USA a goal last night. The Adidas 'Jabulani' ball has been fiercely criticised coming in to the tournament, particularly by goalkeepers who claim its movement in the air is unpredictable." But Capello admitted, "Sometimes keepers make mistakes. The ball moves a lot. In the second half Robert Green played very well. But the mistake remains a mistake." Green himself said, "It’s obviously a horrible mistake, a terrible mistake. I’ll have to recover from it."
