U.S. to open against England at World Cup

After Friday's 2010 World Cup draw United States captain Carlos Bocanegra said he started to feel "World Cup fever."

"I'm more excited to know who we're playing and where we're playing and know it's finally here," Bocanegra said via teleconference from France, where he plays professionally.

The United States found out Friday it will start with England, Slovenia and Algeria in Group C when the World Cup starts in June in South Africa.

The Americans find themselves in a relatively easy group, or at least not the Group of Death.

"There are no easy games in the World Cup," U.S. coach Bob Bradley said, "but it's a fair group."

"On paper it seems like a better draw than we had last time," midfielder Landon Donovan added, "but all that goes out the window when the games start."

The opener against England is seen as the biggest challenge. Bradley said he'd already received text messages from several players indicating they are excited about taking on England.

"The idea of playing England is very exciting, especially in our first game," Donovan said.

"It's going to be a fun matchup. A lot of us have played there and we have a lot playing there at the moment," Bocanegra added. "I can imagine the media is going to pump this one up quite a bit."

Donovan will face off against his Los Angeles Galaxy teammate David Beckham in the opener.

Algeria is not well-regarded, though it defeated a good Egypt team in a playoff to advance to the World Cup. The same can be said of Slovenia, which surprised Russia in the final playoff. The players have a lot more to learn about Algeria and Slovenia than they do about England.

"They're not big-name teams, but both did very well to qualify for the World Cup," Bradley said.

"Clearly the focus for us will be England," Donovan said, "and then after that you decide how you move forward depending on how the results go."

Regardless of the draw, expectations are high for the United States.

"We need to get out of our group and we need to make some noise down there in South Africa," Bocanegra said.

Added Donovan: "Anytime now that we don't advance we're going to be disappointed." "That's our expectation level now as a team, and that's healthy. That's good that we're at that point now."

Breaking down the World Cup draw

Favorites: Spain, Brazil.

Dark horse: Netherlands.

Toughest group: Group G has Brazil, Portugal, Ivory Coast and North Korea.

Weakest group: Group A includes host South Africa, Uruguay, Mexico and France, which squeaked into the Cup on a controversial play.

Games of interest:

All times Central

• South Africa vs. Mexico in the first game, 9 a.m., June 11.

• Argentina vs. Nigeria, 6:30 p.m., June 12.

• United States vs. England, 1:30 p.m., June 12.

• Mexico vs. France, 6:30 a.m. June 17.

• United States vs. Slovenia, 9 a.m., June 18.

• United States vs. Algeria, 9 a.m., June 23.

• Cameroon vs. Netherlands, 1:30 p.m., June 24.

• Portugal vs. Brazil, 9 a.m., June 25.