The Road Ahead for Uncle Sam

on 06 24, 2010

Ask anyone associated with the World Cup and they will all tell you the same story, the only thing that matters about the group round is getting out. It doesn’t matter how you do it, get out, move on and survive, and that is exactly what the United States did. They got screwed, they got screwed some more and then they caught a break. But those bad calls are behind the Men’s National Team now and it’s time to look ahead to the knockout round and the biggest soccer game in this country since the quarterfinal game against Germany in 2002.

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Since the United States won Group C they face the runner-up from Group D, and thanks to an extremely surprising victory by Australia over Serbia, the runner-up is Ghana. Ghana will be the only African squad to move on to the knockout round (pending a miracle for the Ivory Coast) and it should be assumed that on Saturday afternoon the crowd will be behind them. The United States Men’s National Team has faced Ghana before in the 2002 World Cup and lost 2-1, but that score is deceiving. The United States needed not only to beat Ghana in that game, but also kill them, so they were pushing for goals, which in turn left gaps in their defense. Here’s the ultimate chance for revenge.

Sportsbook.com has the game currently listed as even but there are some things to realize about Ghana that should reassure the American fans. Like I said before, Ghana barely made it through thanks to an amazing upset by Australia. From there, Ghana has only scored two goals in this World Cup. The thing about those goals – they were both penalty kicks. Then, after those goals, their opponents were playing with 10 men. So to recap, Ghana hasn’t scored a goal during play, and they didn’t receive any group points in a game where they didn’t have to finish it against a side that were a man down.

Now I don’t want to jinx the United States, but if they should make their way past Ghana, they will face either Uruguay or South Korea. The obvious favorite in this match-up is Uruguay, but either way, no matter who wins this game; if the United States should advance they face an opponent that they’re very capable of beating. The stars look to be aligned for the United States to make a deep run in this cup.

So come this Saturday afternoon at 2:30 PM ET, flip your T.V. to ABC, wrap yourself in your American flag, hell, have a hot dog and a cold beer, and enjoy what is sure to be another entertaining United States game in this World Cup.http://shinguardian.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/dtom.jpg

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