Watford defender Jay DeMerit says he's fully recovered from an eye operation earlier this season. "I couldn't even see out of one eye for about a month," he says of a problem caused by a piece of grit that scratched his right cornea in September.

"I was basically blind. But it's absolutely amazing what they can do with eyes now. To stitch my eye by hand, and do the rest by laser, was just mind-blowing. Normally it takes three to four months. But this cut recovery time in half because it used atomic energy and because the cut's so clean there's not as much scarring."

DeMerit says the USA are determined to test England when they come face-to-face in the World Cup.

He told the Observer: "When we play England, they have all the plaudits and the tags of world-class player but, if you can challenge a world-class player and put him on the line, you never know. England's going to have all the pressure, for sure."