RUSTENBURG - England captain Steven Gerrard said he believed goalkeeper Robert Green would recover from his fatal blunder which awarded the United States the equaliser in their opening match of the World Cup on Saturday.

England's Steven Gerrard celebrates scoring a goal in their 2010 World Cup Group C soccer match against the US at Royal Bafokeng stadium in Rustenburg June 12, 2010. [Photo/Agencies]

Gerrard gave England a good start with a 4th minute goal at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium, but Green's mistake allowed the American team to get the equalizer.

"It was one of those freak things," Gerrard said.

"I don't think you can criticise the goalkeeper because people have been criticising the ball and the ball is sticky so we need to get behind Robert and support him and I'm sure he'll make an important save further down the line for us."

"Robert is a man, I am sure he'll learn from this and go from strength to strength."

Gerrard said his team now needed to win their two remaining Group C games against Algeria and Slovenia to be sure of qualifying.

"The target now has got to be seven points," he said.