Don´t under-estimate us, USA warn England

United States’ coach Bob Bradley warned England Friday that his side thrive on playing quality opposition as he expressed confidence in getting through the group stages of the World Cup.

The Americans were drawn in group C with England, Algeria and Slovenia with their opening match against Fabio Capello’s men in Rustenburg on June 12.

“It’s a great way to start,” said Bradley, whose team finished top of their group in qualifying.

“It’s certainly a big challenge but that’s what we’re there for. It will be a very special start to the tournament with us playing England — a team we know very well.

“We can be dangerous against very good teams. We feel that this is a group that gives us a very fair chanace to get through to the next round.”

The Americans are arguably the strongest team England will face from the group and they play the match against them in Rustenburg, a city Capello is likely to select as their home base for the June 11-July 11 tournament.

Bradley will take a squad of veterans and new faces to the tournament, and they have experience of South Africa having reached the Confederations Cup final earlier this year before losing to Brazil.

The USA’s all-time leading scorer Landon Donovan, a teammate of England’s David Beckham at LA Galaxy, was upbeat after the draw.

“It could have been worse,” he told reporters after watching the draw from New York.

“Depending on where I play, playing against Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard is going to be pretty fun. I can’t think of a better match-up personally.”

The Americans will be playing in their ninth World Cup.

They reached the quarter-finals in 2002 but failed to get past the group stage in Germany in 2006, setting the stage for Bradley to take over as coach.