On June 17th, 2014, the wondrous United States dismantling of Ghana in their World Cup opener is all sports fans can talk about.
After 2 straight World Cups that ended with an American loss to Ghana, the Yanks were thrown a curve ball when, despite being placed in a group with Ghana for the 3rd straight cup they got to start the group stage against their African nemesis rather than end it. However despite it being at the beginning of the stage, the USA/Ghana group game carried immense weight.
Group G was picked as one of the toughest groups in recent World Cup history, the Ghana game was actually the easiest game on the schedule. So, with the fear of the Germans and Portuguese looming large in the American’s sights, victory was the only option Monday afternoon in Natal.
29 seconds in to the game, they took a huge step towards doing that. After a Clint Dempsey throw in, Jermaine Jones fought off a Ghana defender and chucked a short pass across to Dempsey who immediately cut into the outer goalie box where he burned center back John Boye. With a clear view of the goal Dempsey pounded a left footed ball off the far post and into the back of the Ghanaian net. The goal was the earliest ever scored by a US men's soccer player and the 5th fastest goal scored in World Cup history. Additionally, the tally made its scorer, Clint Dempsey, the first American to score in 3 consecutive World Cup tournaments.
The goal was the best thing that could possibly happen for the Americans, gluing millions of people back in the states to their television sets and proving that despite the odds, this team was willing to shock the world.
However, while Dempsey delivered US Soccer with a great gift, Jozy Altidore delivered the nation with the absolute opposite. After failing to capitalize on a goal scoring opportunity in the 17th minute, the American star found himself chasing the ball towards the corner flag when he reportedly felt a pull in his left hamstring and collapsed to the ground. The 24 year old went down in obvious agony and needed to be taken off the field on a stretcher.
While it was very quickly said that Altidore was suffering from a strained hamstring, the team seemed a little reserved in how much they were going to tell the media about the injury. However, they did tell ESPN reporters later in the game that Jozy would undergo a scan on his leg the following day. As off 11:33am results from that scan had not yet been published.
But anyway, the loss of Altidore immediately put much more pressure on the already crucial play of Clint Dempsey while also further putting the decision to leave Landon Donovan off the team in the spotlight. All and all, American soccer fans saw the Altidore injury and screamed something along the lines of "why me?!". A few minutes later, they began to wonder at what point this game stopped being a soccer game and instead turned into an episode of Grey's Anatomy.
During a 33rd minute loose ball situation, the knee of John Boye went rogue and clocked Clint square in the nose. The US striker immediately collapsed to the ground clutching his face while his surely broken nose bled into his hands. Though he would leave the game briefly to get patched up, fans in Natal gave their star a resounding bout of verbal support when he hopped back onto the pitch. As he would reveal after the game however, the injury to his nose made the rest of the game far from pleasant.
“I just had trouble breathing,” Dempsey said. “I was coughing up blood out there. I did get a little bit tired. Hopefully I can start breathing through my nose before the next game.”
Wow Clint.
Unfortunately for the US, the minute or two of play without Dempsey on the field helped Ghana swing momentum in their favor. After the Dempsey injury, the boys from Ghana rattled off 15 shots to the US' 4 shots. More scared was the effectiveness of halftime substitutions made by Ghana which resulted in a stretch of midfield domination and 6 straight unanswered shots at the American goal. Though a great game by US goalie Tim Howard stifled most of these shots with ease and efficiency, and 81st minute strike by Andre Ayew fooled Howard and snuck past his outstretched right leg into the net. With just 9 minutes left in the game, it looked that despite all the work at the beginning of the game put in by the US strikers, a draw was all they would get. Unfortunately, US fans feared that their hopes of escaping the group stage had been shot down before they could really take off.
But then John Brooks came into the game as a late substitution by Jurgen Klinsman. Just 4 minutes after the Ayew goal, strong footed American midfielder Grahm Zusi arced a perfect corner kick right into the congregation of players at the top of the inner goalie box. Brooks who was positioned perfectly to receive the kick timed his jump and managed to get off an uncontested header that directed the ferocious cross into the Ghana net.
When the whistle blew for full time just about 10 minutes later, the US had pulled one out of the hat. They had scored two goals that stunned the world with their timing and fought through adversity to log a true upset of a favored opponent. Looking forward, even a tie with Portugal next weekend could be enough for the USA to sneak out of the group stage.
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