The United States is all-too familiar with World Cup Round of 16 foe Ghana. It was in the last World Cup four years ago that Ghana eliminated them, sending them home with a disastrous three-and-out showing. Saturday (2:30 p.m., ABC) they finally get a chance to make amends.
“That was not a good day for me or for the team, and what I remember most personally is my tentativeness and the immediate feeling afterwards, the finality of it and how disappointing that was,” said Landon Donovan, who fired the United States into tomorrow’s tilt with his 91st-minute winner against Algeria.
“I’ve been impressed with them. I thought they’d struggle a little bit without (Michael) Essien, but I think they’ve looked very good. They’re going to be a very difficult team to play with. Clearly their athleticism will be difficult to deal with. My guess is that they’ll have quite a bit of support. Like a lot of African teams, they can be unpredictable sometimes, which can be a plus or a minus.”
The Black Stars have proven a tough nut to crack, the only African team to reach the knockout stage in the last two World Cups. Carrying the hopes of an entire continent, they’ve proven to be among the stingiest and most resolute African teams in any World Cup, so American victory won’t come cheap or easy.
There are several keys for the United States, some tactical and some emotional, some matters of the head and other matters of the heart. They’ll need to duplicate the passion they showed in second-half performances vs. Slovenia and Algeria. Bob Bradley’s halftime speeches are clearly working; maybe bring in Jets coach Rex Ryan for the pregame talk, because they can’t afford to fall behind again.
“We’ve seen a lot of their games. They’re physical, they’re strong, they’re fast, the can create special moments one-on-one,” said keeper Tim Howard. “As individuals, that plays to us because we’re strong and we’re fast and we like to go head-to-head. I think if we do the same things we’ve been talking about, defending well as a unit, staying compact, I think the game will open up for us.”
Still, despite the physical challenge Ghana is sure to present, the United States can’t afford to give up early goals or cheap fouls. They allowed scores in the first 15 minutes to both England and Slovenia, and Ghana _ with its conservative 4-5-1 formation _ excels at both drawing penalties and holding leads.
Asamoah Gyan is a prototypical lone striker, scoring three of their four goals en route to the African Cup of Nations final. With Chelsea superstar Essien sidelined, they’ve just hoofed he ball up to Gyan, and it’s worked…somewhat.
Four of their last seven games have been 1-0 wins, but they haven’t rallied for a victory or even scored twice since last November vs. lowly Mali. So while scoring first is important for the U.S. _ testing the mental resolve of a team that saw Sulley Muntari profanely rant at his coaches _ it’s even more important that the U.S. avoids an early defensive gaffe.
While the United States has four goals in this World Cup _ and two more incorrectly disallowed _ the speedy Black Stars have only two Gyan PKs, and has yet to score from the run of play, errant and lacking composure in front of goal. They may cede possession and look for a counterattack goal. In a game that may not be as open as U.S.-Algeria was, that could be disastrous.
“(They are a) talented team, athletic team, mobile,” said Bob Bradley. “We all know the types of players that Ghana has produced, the great youth teams they’ve had and the fact that they’ve been able to do a very good job of turning very good teams at the U-17 and U-20 level into very good teams at the full national team level. We know some of their guys pretty well, we’ve watched them a lot and we expect a really good game.”
Breaking Ghana down will be tough. CB John Mensah is EPL seasoned at Sunderland, but with Isaac Vorsah (knee) out the last two games, they’ll likely start skinny 19-year-old Jonathan Mensah next to his namesake. That should be a key matchup against physical Jozy Altidore, as should Ghana’s three-man central midfield against dynamo Michael Bradley and Maurice Edu, or whoever pairs with him in the middle.
On Saturday, that duo will need to win the ball against Prince Boateng and tiny Anthony Annan, and get it to Donovan and Clint Dempsey. In a game where one play may decide it, Donovan and Dempsey are the duo most likely to provide it.