Benny Feilhaber helped the USA keep their World Cup dream alive after coming off the bench to steer them past Algeria and finish top of England’s qualifying group.

A strike from Jermaine Defoe looked to have sent England through as group winners, but playmaker Feilhaber, who came on at half time after replacing striker Herculez Gomezat the Loftus Versfeld Stadium, and played his part as a stoppage time strike from Landon Donovan took the USA through to the second round in South Africa.

Feilhaber said: "It’s unbelievable. We definitely never doubted it was possible.

“We've got to be really happy with what we achieved. I'm on a big high right now."

The USA plays Ghana in round two on Saturday.