USA! USA! USA!

Okay, I would have to say that this World Cup has been pretty awesome so far. There have been plenty of goals, just the right amount of drama, and great world spirit. I will post  a lot in the coming days to cover the past few days of action (and future games), but this post will be for we, The United States of America (also know as 'murica).

We all know that I have had my doubts about the US national team. Sometimes I am even on the border of not supporting them, luckily for the US, they did a good job leading up to Brazil to get me interested in their cause. Putting on programs like Inside the March to Brazil and always giving us a behind the scenes look at the team made me like them a lot more.

Going into Ghana tonight I knew we had to get 3 points if we wanted to get out of the group. I couldn't even make a prediction as to who would win because I just really didn't have an idea. I knew the US had improved from 4 years ago but I didn't know if we could stand up to a team like Ghana who had also improved. When Dempsey scored his goal in 32 seconds (34 if you are a FIFA worker) I was bamboozled. I was very happy and very surprised. I thought, "Hey we might have a good chance now". That's when Ghana really came to life. The African nation looked faster, stronger, and had most of the possession. Then one of the worst possible things happened, Altidore when down grabbing his hamstring. Even though he is not my favorite player, he's Premier League built and is so strong that he can create chances for himself. We held a 1-0 lead through half time but we had to pull Besler off who picked up an injury. That might have the best thing possible in the sense of a result for the USA. Ghana tied the game in the 82nd minute. I was pretty sure it was all over in terms of a win, which would mean that our chances of getting out of the group would be pretty slim. Then John Brooks saved the day for the USA. Brooks came into the match as a sub for the injured Matt Besler. Brooks was quoted on twitter as "the greatest American since Abraham Lincoln". He headed the ball just like you're supposed to, down low and hard. It bounced past Ghana's keeper (this was off a corner) and hit the back of the net. He is now a true American hero.

Jurgen Klinsmann was asked at his press conference after the match why he subbed in Brooks instead of Omar Gonzalez. The answer was that Brooks is the sub for a left center back and Omar is the sub for a right center back.

Now to individual player reviews. Michael Bradley who looked so good in qualifiers just played terrible tonight. I expected great things from him tonight and maybe they'll show up against Portugal and Germany but he was majorly disappointing. He couldn't make a right passing decision, he didn't seem to put in many tackles, and for some of the game he disappeared. At the end of the game he did play a little better. Jermaine Jones on the other hand, was absolutely the man of the match. He worked really hard, made some excellent passes, and always seemed to be in the right place. Playing in the Champions league for so much of his career and just playing in the Bundesliga really paid off tonight. I've always liked him and have
 always thought he's a hard worker. Although Tim Howard didn't have to make a bunch of saves tonight, I though he played very well and he maybe the best player on the team. It's hard to compare outfield players to goalies sometimes. I asked us to bring Zusi in, and we did. He put in a great ball on the corner to help John Brooks give the US 3 points. I have seen him take some great set pieces at Sporting KC and he proved he could do it on the biggest stage.

The support over here in the States was giant for our National team. The hype was big and we got the win. Twitter was blowing up with USA chants, along with Instagram and the like. Hopefully soccer will continue to grow over here. Overall I wouldn't say it was a great performance from the United States, we weren't pretty but we got the job done and at the end of the day that's all that matters. Going into Portugal with 3 points, with Portugal being Pepeless, we should have some tremendous momentum.

For more World Cup coverage come back and read more in the following days. Also check out Google's World Cup Hub, they have some interesting stuff comparing trends on Google, like searches between the USA National team and Chuck Norris, along with other stuff.