USA vs Ghana

[pstall]

We can't play like that and beat Portugal. Forgot Germany

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[Delhommey]

We can't play like that and beat Portugal. Forgot Germany

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We SHOULD do better against Portugal. They won't bring that kind of speed, and I have the feeling they will be very close to meltdown. An early goal would cause havoc.

Germany will carve us up like turkeys unless they are resting their starters.

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[Delhommey]

Your argument is invalid.

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[pstall]

i have watched like 208 fan reaction videos on youtube. fantastic

[CarolinaPanthers8789]

Anyone know if they're going to rebroadcast the game?

[Ivan The Awesome]

lol reading this thread now, when I missed this game, makes it much better. Congratz my American friends. Y'all won a close one. 

[KendrickPanther]

Dempsey was not the same after his injury. Johanssen was not ready for that type of game. So many thing went wrong and we won. This is no time to be disappointed.

 

The one concerning thing is the players fitness. They had no energy 20 minutes into the game. That was concerning. All the sloppy play starts with fitness. When your body lacks oxygen you lose your sharpness.

[KendrickPanther]

The Man of the Match was Jermaine Jones. When everyone was exhausted and afraid he was charging full speed ahead. So proud of his effort.

 

Juergen Klinnsman and Fabian Johnson won the match. Fabian made a run on what looked like a hopeless ball. He forced a corner. At this moment Juegan has a choice. He can keep the ball in the corner and time waste for the draw. Or he can risk everything and send his Center Backs into the box. When I saw our defenders in the offensive box all I could think is either we score or they score. Luckily we scored.

[Toundra]

Well done, i still don't see how you can defeat Germany but you have good chance against a Portugal without pépé.

 

[RoaringRiot]

Roaring are u in an usa tank top?

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Ha.... Sure was

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[toldozer]

The Man of the Match was Jermaine Jones. When everyone was exhausted and afraid he was charging full speed ahead. So proud of his effort.

Juergen Klinnsman and Fabian Johnson won the match. Fabian made a run on what looked like a hopeless ball. He forced a corner. At this moment Juegan has a choice. He can keep the ball in the corner and time waste for the draw. Or he can risk everything and send his Center Backs into the box. When I saw our defenders in the offensive box all I could think is either we score or they score. Luckily we scored.

My exact thoughts on the corner. When Ghana scored I texted my friend and told him we are good as done if we tie this game. You don't push everyone forward if you don't feel that way. If we don't find the back of the net they outrun us down the field and score the game winner.

[mr beauxjangles]

Got a feeling we'll see an early goal. That being said, my heart's beating out of my fahking chest so I might just be hallucinating. 

 

More prophetic and inspirational American - John Anthony Brooks or mr beauxjangles?

[Happy Panther]

Here are our scenarios going forward.

 

Basically any win or two draws and we are in.

 

One draw and a loss and it gets complicated. A draw with Portugal and loss to Germany is better than the opposite

 

http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/the-u-s-now-has-a-better-shot-at-the-world-cup-but-still-needs-a-point-against-portugal/

 

Now here’s the long version:

 

Beat Portugal, beat Germany: U.S. is in. This rather optimistic scenario is easy to figure. You win all your matches, you win your group.

 

Beat Portugal, draw Germany: U.S. is in. This scenario guarantees advancement and a tie for first place in the group. If Germany also beats Ghana, however, the U.S. would likely lose the tiebreaker and finish with the second qualifying position.

 

Beat Portugal, lose to Germany: U.S. is in unless it gets really unlucky. This scenario generally leads to a second-place finish in the group. The exception would be if Ghana beat both Portugal and Germany. In that case, Germany, Ghana and the U.S. would finish in a three-way tie atop the group. One team — probably not Germany and possibly the U.S. — would be the odd one out based on goal differential.

 

Draw Portugal, beat Germany: U.S. is in. This scenario delivers seven points and guarantees the U.S. first place in the group.

 

Draw Portugal, draw Germany: U.S. is in. Two draws will be good enough. There won’t be enough points to go around the rest of the group to prevent the U.S. from advancing, though it would probably do so as the second-place team — either because the U.S. finishes second outright or because it loses the tiebreaker to Germany.

 

Draw Portugal, lose to Germany: U.S. is favored to advance but not safe. This is among the more likely outcomes, so we’ll break it down in more detail. There are a number of permutations based on the results of Ghana’s games against Germany and Portugal.

 

Under three permutations — Ghana draws with Portugal and either draws with or loses to Germany, or Ghana beats Portugal and loses to Germany, the U.S. will have sole possession of second place and advance.

But under another permutation, the U.S. would be out despite its four points. This case happens if Ghana beats Portugal and Germany, giving both Ghana and Germany six points.

In the other permutations, the U.S. would finish in a tie for second place, with Germany winning the group. If the tie is with Portugal, the U.S. would likely advance on the basis of goal differential. If the tie is with Ghana, it’s a little harder to say.

Lose to Portugal, beat Germany: U.S. is almost certainly in. The only exception is if, in addition to these results, both Germany and Portugal beat Ghana. In that case, the U.S., Germany and Portugal would be tied atop the group with six points. The U.S. would likely get the second position based on goal differential, however, so this scenario is quite safe.

 

Lose to Portugal, draw Germany: U.S. is a slight underdog to advance. This case is inferior to losing to Germany and drawing with Portugal because it gives Portugal three points and makes it much more of a threat to advance. The permutations get complicated:

 

The U.S. is almost certainly out in the cases where Portugal beats Ghana. That, coupled with a Portuguese win against the U.S., would give Portugal six points and it would leapfrog the U.S. in the standings. (The only exception is if Germany gets blown out by Ghana so badly that it loses the tiebreaker to the U.S. — not at all likely.)

 

Only one permutation guarantees the U.S. entry: if Germany beats Ghana but Ghana beats Portugal.

 

A number of other permutations involve ties for second place, sometimes against Germany (bad for the U.S.) and sometimes against Portugal (good for the U.S.).

 

Finally, there could even be a four-way tie for first if Ghana draws with Portugal and beats Germany!

 

Lose to Portugal, lose to Germany: U.S. is mathematically alive but needs a miracle. This almost certainly dooms the United States. But just as there’s a wild-card scenario in which it could win twice but fail to advance, there’s one in which it could lose both remaining matches but move on. That would happen if Ghana beats Portugal and loses to Germany. Then Germany would win the group with nine points, and the U.S. would be in a three-way tie for second with Portugal and Ghana. The U.S. would need to beat both teams on the tiebreaker. It wouldn’t be how you script these things, but neither was Monday’s win.

 

One final note: The Americans’ chances to advance should improve slightly when we rerun the numbers on Tuesday morning, as they’ll reflect the change in the Soccer Power Index, which we update overnight. It’s not that the United States’ SPI will increase so much as that Portugal’s will decline: Portugal looks much more beatable (or at least drawable) after its 4-0 defeat. SPI is not sophisticated enough to account for the red card to Portugal’s Pepe (who will miss the match against the U.S.) or the injury to the U.S.’s Jozy Altidore — nor for the fact that the Americans’ quality of play on Monday was not as impressive as the scoreline.

[Delhommey]