US Plays Portugal Today As World Cup Action Continues
The world Cup is well underway, and the US plays a vitally important match against Portugal Sunday, and this will be the deciding factor in the US, as well as Portugal's chances of escaping group G, and moving on to the round of 16.
First, for those that don't know what's happened so far, the FIFA world cup starts out in what;s called the "group stage". Teams are picked at random and placed into lettered groups of 4 nations each. Only the top 2 of every group may move on to the next stage.
The US got the short stick in the drawing this cup, and were placed with the superstar Germans, the traditionally spectacular Portuguese, and Ghana; a team that has kicked the US out of the previous two world cups. The experts had no reason to think the US had a shot at going anywhere in this competition, until the US-Ghana game last Monday.
The US made a goal in the very first minute of play by Dempsey, and although Ghana tied it up, a substitute player, not a starter, Brooks, scored in the 86th minute, securing victory for the US. This great showing against a good team showed that we were not to be dismissed in this world cup.
Germany played Portugal the same day, and crushed them 4-0. This means one of three things; either A: Portugal was having an especially off-day B: Portugal isn't as good as it normally is, or C: Germany, especially Müler, is just THAT good. What we know for sure is that in the German match, the Portuguese did not look as good as they traditionally do, and their superstar player, Cristiano Ronaldo (who single-handedly could change the course of a match due to his extreme skill) is injured. Ronaldo will still play, but he won't be the Ronaldo the world knows so well as a superstar. To sum it up, the US has a decent shot to beat Portugal Sunday, which could very possibly mean the US will accomplish the nearly unthinkable, and be catapulted into the next round with all of the nations that proved they belong in the cup.
The US-Portugal game airs tomorrow at 6pm, be sure to tune in!
(by WIBX 950 intern Ed Manne)