STEVE INSKEEP, host:
Okay, I don't know about your workplace today, but at this workplace, here at NPR, very little work is getting done because so many people are watching television, and you can hear not actual vuvuzelas but howls and screams now and again as people watch a dramatic game at the World Cup involving the United States. It's in the final moments right now. Might want to rush to your television.
NPR's Mike Pesca is following this game from South Africa. Mike, what's going on?
MIKE PESCA: Oooh! As you were speaking, the U.S. goalkeeper, Tim Howard, just made actually his only save of the game, and it was a big one.
INSKEEP: Wow.
PESCA: (Unintelligible) is preserved with about five minutes left in the game, a 2-2 tie, and a wet(ph) draw, as they say in soccer. And the way we got the 2-2 couldn't have been more amazing, because the United States went down 2-0 in the first half and in the second half they've mounted a comeback, and moments before you began speaking to me it seemed as if the United States even pulled ahead, but that last supposed goal was waved offsides.
So right now the result is 2-2 in the U.S. game against Slovenia.
INSKEEP: And I want to mention according to the clock here, there's about a minute and a half left, but we don't really know how much time is left in this game, do we. They'll add some time on at the end.
PESCA: Yes. Penalty time is kept on the field with the official. It shouldn't be I don't recall too many penalties in this half. It shouldn't be more than a few minutes. So the story of this game has been it's been a game that's totally different from what we expected going in. We expected - Tim Howard with another save!
INSKEEP: Yeah.
PESCA: We expected Slovenia to be a defensive-minded team. The United States was favored, and if anything, Slovenia would pack it in on defense and maybe try to score a goal here or there.
Totally different. It was an open game. Slovenia scored the earliest goal that that nation has ever scored in the World Cup, in the thirteenth minute, and in the second also in the first half they added another one two to nothing being a very tough score to come back from in soccer. The U.S. coach, Bob Bradley, made a substitution at halftime, and it was odd. He took out a forward and he replaced him with a midfielder. Wouldn't the United States need more offense?
But what that substitution did is it the excellent U.S. player, Landon Donovan, pushed him forward. Donovan got a goal early in the first half, and then a few minutes ago the coach's son, Michael Bradley, off an excellent pass off the head of Jozy Altidore...
INSKEEP: Yeah.
PESCA: ...lifted the ball above the Slovenian goalie, thus making the score 2-2.
INSKEEP: Two really quite artful goals. And so now we're in the final minutes with the score tied between the U.S. and Slovenia. Is this a surprise, that the Americans would be this competitive?
PESCA: Well, the United States is the largest country in the World Cup in terms of population, and Slovenia is the smallest. Now, normally you know, soccer is the rare sport where the (technical difficulties) justifiably sees itself as underdogs. So who knows. The odds-makers were telling us that the United States was supposed to win, but they weren't huge favorites, and we've seen just earlier today the great German side lost, and Spain, the number one team coming in, has lost in this tournament.
So the truism is true. Anything can happen in a 90 minute game of soccer.
INSKEEP: And there is a Slovenian shot that goes wide of the goal, and with just a few seconds left in our conversation here, and a short amount left in the game it looks like they've added three minutes of penalty time and so forth, Mike Pesca. What does it mean if the United States ends up with two ties, having tied with England here?
PESCA: They're still in a position to advance to the next round. And when they were down two-nothing, it looked as if the United States would be going home, even though they had another certain game to play, it looked as if they might be going home early. So 2-2 means they will earn two points later today tonight here in South Africa, today there in the USA. England will be (unintelligible) Algeria, and we need to watch that game. I think, Steve, you and I might be violating some rights, because we're semi-broadcasting the game. So let's take let's take two seconds after the ball is struck before we announce the results.
INSKEEP: Okay, that's fine, that's fine. We're actually out of time for this conversation. Mike Pesca in South Africa. But we'll continue to have results through the day at NPR News. Right now the score is 2-2.
This is NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
