There is supposed to be a special relationship between England and the USA, but for a moment you could be forgiven for thinking that it applied to the hockey pitch. With a small squad drawn from a ridiculously small player base, the USA managed to make England look very ordinary. But much of the problem lay with England, who with some sloppy passing and a number of turnovers at crucial moments of the match, almost seemed determined to gift their opposition a win.
Richard Smith’s 10th minute penalty corner goal was matched with an excellent field goal from Sean Harris seven minutes later and the sides went into the break on 1-1.
Richard Mantell put England back ahead from a penalty corner shortly after the re-start but England then fell foul of the controversial penalty corner decision, which left them fighting to re-take the lead.
England’s eventual saviour was James Tindall, whose 30th minute goal gave England an eventual 3-2 win.
The US coach, Peter Jones, realised that his side were one of the underdogs in the Indoor World Cup, but they were determined to go home having won at least one game. They had targeted England as a potential for that win. They very nearly achieved their aim.
England play Iran tomorrow in their penultimate match of the tournament.
