They started scattering Sunday to the United States and Europe, never to come together as a group again.

Grim-faced American players filed by one by one on their way out of Royal Bafokeng Stadium. Their World Cup was over.

The clock ticked into the 70th minute, and Tim Howard started to get anxious.

Tim Howard got back to the team hotel after the big win over Algeria, turned on a television and saw David Wright. Then he noticed what the New York Mets third baseman was wearing.

Over and over, everything seemed to go against them.

Long after the game had ended and the jubilant players had left the field, the U.S. fans partied on in the stands, singing, dancing and waving their American flags. Back home, folks who couldn't pick Landon Donovan out of a lineup only a few weeks ago celebrated his goal with die-hard gusto.

They celebrated the U.S. team's big moment in bars, restaurants and office cubicles from coast to coast, die-hard soccer supporters and curious casual fans united as they shouted, sang and even sobbed with joy.

The pattern is hard to miss: The United States falls behind by a goal or two, then tries to scramble back.

Maurice Edu kicked the ball into the net just before the 86th minute. American players jumped around wildly, thinking they had capped a historic comeback, turning a two-goal, first-half deficit into a 3-2 victory over Slovenia.

As far as the staff at the Irene Country Lodge is concerned the real star of the U.S. soccer team, bunking there during World Cup, isn't Landon, Clint or Tim. It's Oguchi Onyewu.

The day was sunny and bright, and so was the U.S. outlook.

Sixty years removed and 4,449 miles from a huge World Cup upset in Brazil, the U.S. and England finally meet again Saturday in a game that matters, a rematch in this year's World Cup opener for both teams.