Team USA battles 'Group of Death'
It’s shaping up to be the best World Cup ever with goals galore, passions flaring and shock results daily — and there’s even three weeks still left.
After earning a win and a tie in the opening two games, the fate of Team USA is balanced on a knife edge as they face three-time world champion Germany on Thursday.
June 17: Today was all about goalkeepers. Russia’s Igor Akinfeev had an absolute nightmare, frequently fumbling the ball and then allowing a soft shot to squirm through his grasp and give South Korea a 1-1 tie.
By contrast, Mexico’s Guillermo Ochoa was unbeatable, stopping several point-blank attempts and acrobatically clawing a goal-bound header off the line to preserve a thrilling 0-0 tie with Brazil.
In the third game, Belgium needed two late goals to come from behind and squeeze past Algeria 2-1, keeping alive their reputation as the dark horse to watch.
June 18: In a day of surprises, reigning world champion Spain lost 2-0 to Chile’s attacking spirit, and also lost any chance of progressing to the knockout rounds.
Alex Song of Cameroon lost his head and karate-elbowed an opponent in full flight, earning his dismissal and sparking a 4-0 defeat to Croatia.
Meantime, underdog Aussies surged to a 2-1 lead against Holland, and it took two late goals by the flying Dutchmen to maintain their status as one of the favorites to win the tournament.
June 19: In a game between first-round winners, Colombia edged past the Ivory Coast Elephants 2-1, while toothless Japan and Greece settled for a 0-0 tie.
In sharp contrast, Uruguay’s Luis Suarez — who was banned for a lengthy period last fall for biting an opponent — showed his teeth and scored twice in the day’s big match to send England to the brink of elimination.
June 20: In the early game, minnows Costa Rica outplayed four-time tournament champion Italy and famously won 1-0, while tiny Honduras gave it their all but lost 2-1 to Ecuador.
In the headliner, France stormed out to a five-goal lead over Switzerland before easing up and allowing the Swiss to score two late consolation goals.
June 21: Iran defended mightily and held powerhouse Argentina scoreless until the little genius Lionel Messi scored in the dying minutes for the second time in as many games to break Iranian hearts and give Argentina a 1-0 victory.
That score was replicated by Nigeria as they narrowly edged past Bosnia-Herzegovina, although the Bosnians had a goal disallowed due to more poor officiating. Meantime, a pair of half-brothers faced off against each other as Germany and Ghana shared the spoils 2-2 in a fast-paced and thrilling encounter.
June 22: In a tense match, dark horse favorite Belgium again had trouble living up to their pre-tournament ranking, but for the second time in succession came alive in the last few minutes and defeated Russia 1-0, while Algeria was outgunning South Korea 4-2 in a wonderful game filled with chances galore.
Then came the match of the day – Team USA versus No. 4 ranked Portugal, whose ranks include 2014 World Player of the Year Christiano Ronaldo.
In the hot and humid northeastern Amazon jungle city of Manaus, disaster loomed in the fifth minute when defender Jeff Cameron bobbled a clearance and saw it promptly volleyed into the U.S. goal, giving Portugal a 1-0 lead.
However, Cameron and Team USA both regrouped and took the game to their more illustrious opponents, carving out several goal-scoring chances before Jermaine Jones bent a glorious curling shot past the Portuguese goalkeeper to tie the score in the 61st minute.
Then, with less than 10 minutes left, U.S. striker Clint Dempsey — playing with a broken nose thanks to a kick to the face in the opening match against Ghana — scored from close in to send the thousands of travelling U.S. fans into rapture.
Meantime, Ronaldo had been shut down by the swarming U.S. defense and was completely anonymous until 30 seconds from the final whistle, when he sent an inch-perfect cross into the middle of the U.S. goal area for teammate Varela to score with a dramatic diving header and tie the score.
The fact that it was the latest regulation goal scored in World Cup history was of no consolation to the distraught U.S. players and fans, who were already celebrating the thought of progression to the knockout rounds with one game to spare.
Instead, the U.S. now face powerhouse Germany in the final day of round robins on Thursday, knowing that a win or a tie will send them through, and that even a loss might still see progress, depending on the result of the other game in our group between Ghana and Portugal.
For Team America to earn their way through from the aptly-named Group of Death would be a wonderful achievement, so GO USA.
— Colin Sellwood will write a World Cup column throught the tourney. Email comments to cwsellwood@gmail.com