USA Ghana Preview

tayke2 On 3:36 PM

USA doesn't have much time to come down after their incredible golden goal of sorts against Algeria. They had 6 days between England and Slovenia, and 4 days off between Slovenia and Algeria. But now they have just two days between Algeria and Ghana. And the scary thing is, Ghana on paper is a better team then Algeria and Slovenia, AND they will have the home crowd on their side, as they are disappointingly Africa's last hope. Having said all that, the USA should win this, and here are a few reasons why.

Ghana hasn't really been that impressive. They started off with a surprise upset over Serbia, thanks to a late penalty kick. But after that, they limped across the finish line with a poor tie against Australia and a loss to Germany. Here's what bodes well for the US. Ghana has only scored two goals, and both of them were penalty kicks. The problem is the US has a flare for the dramatic, and that strategy is going to run out on them eventually.

This is also a Ghana team that is hurting from the fact that they are missing their star and would be captain Michael Essien. The USA have been fortunate so far to for the most part dodge the injury bug(knock on the biggest piece of wood you can find) with the exception of missing out on the services of forward Charlie Davies following his car accident.

One of my biggest questions is who will Coach Bradley put in the 2nd forward spot along side Jozy Altidore. In the first two games, he had Robbie Finley, who in my mind was extremely ineffective and to my knowledge had no real scoring threats. I love Hercules Gomez, but his power is being the spark at the end of the game as a sub. And the guy I've been pushing for the entire tournament, Edson Buddle, came in and had a few shots on goal and had a very solid game from what I could tell. So who does he go with? My guess is Finley sadly, but don't surprised to see Buddle get some serious playing time.

The last thing to look out for to me is the health of Gooch. He sat out the game against Algeria, which was likely just a precaution as Bradley guessed correctly that Algeria would pose few threats offensively. But as I said earlier, Ghana hasn't been lighting up the score board, so don't be surprised to see Gooch be taken out early or come in late as a sub, and keep him fresh for the next round if USA makes it, as both South Korea and Uruguay have shown they can score multiple goals a game.

So whats the result going to be. You would think USA should win 2-0, but USA has shown they aren't likely to follow the plan. My guess. USA gets a first half goal, then gives one up in the middle of the 2nd before notching the game winner around the 80th minute. USA wins and moves on to take on Uruguay in the Quarters. Thanks for reading.

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