Halftime, World Cup 2010: United States 1, England 1

The United States and England are tied 1-1 at halftime of their World Cup 2010 match in Rustenberg, South Africa, with an early Steven Gerrard goal equalized by Clint Dempsey, with help from one of the most egregious goalkeeping errors of recent memory.

Gerrard opened the scoring with the outside of his right foot in the fourth minute when, played behind the defense by Emile Heskey, the England captain slid the ball under an oncoming Tim Howard. Gerrard ran through a space vacated by Oguchi Onyewu, with a trailing Ricardo Clark unable to prevent the shot.

Despite the United States keeping 60 percent of the possession, England was able to protect their lead relatively easily, though the work of Landon Donovan and Steve Cherundolo on the right flank caused England coach Fabio Capello to use an early substitution, bringing-on Shaun Wright-Phillips to replace James Milner on the left wing in the thirtieth minute.

Six minutes later, United States goalkeeper TIm Howard had an injury scare after taking a boot to the left arm from Heskey. When diving to meet a ball played across the penalty area, Howard collided with the England attacker, causing him to need three minutes of treatment. The goalkeeper would finish the half but was visibly winging in the minutes after play restarted.

In the 40th minute, Clint Dempsey was given room on his left foot from 22 yards, hit a shot along the ground right to goalkeeper Robert Green. The ball hit Green in the gloves as the keeper knelt in front of the shot, but failing to hold the shot, Green redirected the ball into the net, tying the score.