Even President Obama took the time out of his busy schedule to watch the game.
It doesn’t even sound right (that we would lose and still make it in), but that’s how the chips fell for the United States. And we owe it all to Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo for beating Ghana 2-1. Even when we lose, we win!
This might have been one of the worst played matches for the U.S. (we can’t deny it), against a strong Germany team that was the favorite in the “group of death.” The Germans came out attacking for a good part of the first half, with USA playing defense and Tim Howard holding down the wall with every German shot.
Things would change in the second half and give the United States a hell of a scare, because Ghana was tied with Portugal at the time.
After halftime and at the 55th minute, the gawd Thomas Müller put the ball in the back of the net after a block from Howard to give Germany the 1-0 lead. Lord knows why the U.S. defense left him so wide open.
The Germans weren’t letting up after their first goal either. They continued attacking and were going for the kill, but the U.S. defense managed to keep the ball from going in a second time. Tim Howard continued blocking goals for his life all the way until the last second when the refs signaled the end of the game.
The United States had two chances with two minutes in extra time to score, but both attempts by Clint Dempsey & Alejandro Bedoya failed. In the end, they both didn’t matter. The U.S. advanced with four points out of Group G, thanks to goal differential.
Portugal and Ghana have been officially eliminated from the World Cup.
