United States Camp Focus – stars and stripes look to terminate Africa’s last hope
The USA head into the first round of knockout matches today facing Africa’s last remaining hope in the World Cup.
After entering the tournament with six teams all hopeful of progression through the group stages, it is only Ghana who remains contenders to win the competition. South Africa, Algeria, Cameroon, Nigeria and Ivory Coast were all eliminated from the tournament while the scorpions battled through group D to take second place. Facing them will be Bob Bradley’s USA, who, met by a horde of American soccer fans as they drove through Pretoria after their win on Wednesday, will be bursting with confidence after a heroic last-gasp win against Algeria three days ago.
Along the side of the team bus was the slogan “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Victory” and it was the victory earned that sparked greetings of the chant “U.S.A.” along with the continual purring of vuvuzelas. And it appears as though this support is continually growing along with the national team’s confidence and unity. According to FIFA, tickets were sold in the United States more than any other country in the world barring South Africa. World Cup games have also drawn record television ratings, capturing the public’s attention in a way soccer never has before in the USA. For the first time though in this World Cup it will not be the yanks who are the crowd favourites, as they go head-to-head with the last remaining African team in the tournament.
This draw would have come as a surprise to both teams when predictions were made surrounding the groups before the tournament began. With England expected to top group C and either Australia or Ghana likely to battle it out for second behind Germany in group D, it was highly predicted that the Americans would line up against Germany and England would face either the socceroos or the scorpions. Under-par performances from the three lions though changed the dynamics of the groups and a united USA team fought courageously to earn top spot in group C.
This looks to have made life easier for the stars and stripes as they face the prospect of not playing against team within the top fifteen of the world until the semi-finals. Ghana, meanwhile, is not likely to be another victim in the Americans’ drive for world dominance in all sports. After an entertaining defeat to the Germans in which both sides created a hat-full of chances, Ghana will be looking to bounce back and continue to fly the flag for Africa in the tournament. Bradley and his team will not be unfamiliar to the challenge facing them though as they can recall a crushing defeat to the very same team only four years ago. After collecting a draw and a win from their opening two games of the last World Cup, the United States needed a win to secure qualification into the knockout round. Unlike this summer, the Americans failed and were defeated 2-0 by Ghana and subsequently were knocked out.
Bradley, appointed after the disappointing exit in 2006, will not be underestimating the Ghanaians this time round. Talking on the qualities possessed but Ghana, he said: “This particular Ghana team is well put together. The team is organised, it has some talented individuals and great athletic ability. But when you look at their style of play, you see the individuals fit well into the team framework.”
Boosting the team will be the return of striker, Robbie Findley. After serving the one-match suspension for collecting two yellow cards in as many games, Findley will be back to take the place of the largely un-impressive Herculez Gomez who was substituted at half-time. Maurice Edu is also likely to give Bradley cause for thought after two highly influential performances in the last two games. Scoring what should have been the winning goal before having it chalked off against Slovenia, Edu replaced Jose Francisco Torres against Algeria and is likely to have made enough of an impression to warrant a place in the starting XI.
While Ghana will be looking to repeat their feat from 2006, this American team, more connected now than ever before, will have to call upon what has proven to be their saving grace time and time if they are to continue their undefeated run through this tournament, belief in the face of adversity.
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