[REACTION] U.S. coach Bob Bradley said his team looks forward to launching its World Cup campaign against England. "It's a great way to start," he said. "It's big challenge, but when you come to the World Cup and you have a chance to kick it off against an opponent like England, it gives it a real special start.

 

"It creates a huge match. Great for fans, exciting for players. We look at it as a big challenge and one that we're thrilled to have."

Bradley, who will be coaching at a World Cup for the first time, seemed pleased with the draw into Group C.

"I think that it's a fair chance for us," said Bradley. "Algeria and Slovenia both came through great situations to get to the World Cup. Algeria with a historic win in Cairo. Slovenia beating Russia in the playoffs. But we feel this is a group that gives us a real fair chance to move on. ...

"Believe me we know that Algeria and Slovenia are very good teams and we have respect what they've accomplished."

Asked on how his team would approach its opening game, Bradley said, "We know their team. Fabio Capello is a great manager. ... We believe in playing our game. We believe in playing at a good tempo. We believe in the fact that we have the kind of players who can be dangerous against very good teams."

The USA was also fortunate on the logistics front with games in three cities not far apart: vs. England June 12 in Rustenburg; vs. Slovenia June 18 in Johannesburg; vs. Algeria June 23 in Tshwane/Pretoria (Group C).

"It works well that all of our games are within driving range," said Bradley.

U.S. attacker Landon Donovan, who is looking forward to his third World Cup, says the team is very familiar with at least one of its first-round opponents.

"It's a very interesting group," said Donovan. "We all know the English players, but we will need to do a little more research on Slovenia and Algeria. Bob Bradley [USA coach] is a very organized coach and we will need to focus our attention on our first game against England at this point. We have some injuries that we'll need to overcome and we'll need to come together as a team."