It was a mixed World Cup for Bob Bradley’s USA squad, with a largely successful group stage followed by elimination in the second round with a poor performance against Ghana. Pre-tournament they would have been hopeful of making the quarter finals and having won their group they should probably have gone on to do so. That said, it transpired to be a fairly weak group and the United States didn’t exactly take it by storm.
Their opening match, against England in Rustenburg, was an underwhelming affair in which they were fortunate to be gifted an equaliser courtesy of Robert Green’s handling error from Clint Dempsey’s long range effort, having gone behind in only the fourth minute to Steven Gerrard’s goal. The teams cancelled each other out in most areas and created few real chances although by full time the USA had probably done enough to merit the draw on balance of play even though it took the freak goal to secure the point.
The second Group C game, against Slovenia in Johannesburg, was very much a game of two halves. Slovenia dominated the first 45 minutes and were 2-0 up at the interval through Birsa and Ljubijankic. A double substitution from Bradley at half time turned the game back in the USA’s favour, with Edu and Feilhaber replacing Torres and Findley. Goals from Donovan and Michael Bradley brought the USA level with ten minutes to go and Maurice Edu scored what seemed to be a late winner with a volley from a Donovan free kick but it was incomprehensibly ruled out by the officials.
The USA’s third and final group game will be remembered for the drama of the final few minutes when their future in the competition was hanging by a thread. With England beating Slovenia the Americans needed a win against Algeria in Pretoria to avoid an early exit. It as a nerve wracking 90 minutes with both teams striving for a breakthrough and accumulating over 40 shots at goal between them but unable to find the back of the net. Just when all seemed lost, in time added on for stoppages, Landon Donovan popped up in the right place at the right time to finally beat the heroic Algerian goalkeeper Rais Mbolhi from a rebound and win the game at the death, thus moving the USA from third to first in Group C in the blink of an eye. It was no more than the United States deserved over the three games and the joyful celebrations reflected just how much that late winner meant.
Coming top of the group opened up a route to the semi finals uncomplicated by any of world football’s traditional superpowers as Ghana and then the winner of Uruguay versus South Korea was all that stood in the way of a place in the last four for the USA. They knew they may never get a better chance so it was imperative to perform at their best in the second round fixture, back in Rustenburg, against Africa’s last remaining representative in the tournament. However, they were overwhelmed early on by the pace and power of the Ghanaians and went behind in only the fifth minute to a Kevin Price Boateng strike. Easily second best in the first period, the Americans came out a changed team after the interval and were given a route back into the game in the 62nd minute when Clint Dempsey’s trickery took him into the box where Mensah could only trip him and concede a penalty. Donovan coolly converted it to level the scores.
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