Surprise addendum

The surprise continued in the second game, as Germany faced Ghana.  Ghana was in red, this time, with Germany again in white with red trim.

With Germany ranked in the top four, and Ghana down at 37th, this was not expected to be a terribly competitive game.

Germany started out very conservatively, taking the ball and feeling their way around the edges for a while.  In fact, Ghana got the first real chance in the sixth minute on a counterattack.  Seven minutes later, Ghana managed a bit of sustained pressure, but the goalie was able to get across to get their one really good chance.

In the 28th, Germany finally tried to go over the top, and made a good run, though the only result was a corner kick.  And the goaltender caught the cross on that corner.

In the 32nd, they had another decent chance.  It was a long shot, from outside the box, but it was still a tough save for the keeper.  In the next few minutes, the Germans got Oezil and Goetze behind the defense, but neither one was able to get a good shot off.

At the end of the half, it looked inevitable that the Germans would score, probably in buckets, but nobody had yet managed it.

In the second half, it seemed that the Ghanaians were pressuring much deeper, perhaps to make it more difficult to get those long shots over the top.

But it didn't work all that well, as it only took six minutes for the Germans to take the lead.  There was a long cross to the middle of the field, where Goetze was charging in from the left, and he headed it in calmly.

It didn't take long for the Africans to equalize, though.  And they did it on a very similar cross to the German one, except that there were three targets waiting, and the third, Ayew, put it in.  It was interesting, though, as all three were tightly covered; so much for the German height.

In the 62nd minute, Ghana shocked everyone by taking the lead.  It was a really terrible turnover by the German defense, leading to an easy score by Gyan.

Five minutes later, the Germans showed some desperation, bringing in Schweinsteiger and Klose for more scoring punch.

And that worked almost immediately, as Klose scored off a corner kick.  But not with his normal header; he was waiting at the far post as Hoewedes flicked it on to him, and Klose tapped it in for his fifteenth career World Cup goal.  It was also his fourth World Cup in which he scored.  Both put him among the leaders, all-time.  Kudos to Miroslav, and Poland (he's an ethnic Pole, and where he was born was part of Poland, prior to WWII).

One bit of weirdness in the 76th minute; the Germans had a free kick about ten yards outside the box, and they had three people run over the ball before Schweinsteiger finally kicked it over the net.

The Germans almost scored again in the 86th, but Oezil's cross to Mueller was deflected just before getting to him.

For the last few minutes, both teams were looking very tired, and that was the end of the close chances.

Ghana put up quite a showing, and probably got rid of any chance of German complacency.  It also gave the US a pretty good chance to move on, as long as they could beat Portugal.  It does mean that Germany needs a result against the US to be assured of moving on (and would win the group with a draw).

Group of death, head-line

The US and Ghana also played last night, and I don't have a whole lot to say about that one, either.

The US had a pretty goal in the opening minute, which had Klinsmann extremely excited.  Dempsey got the ball in the box on a good feed, made a nice touch to set up his shot, and put it into the far side clinically.

And the Americans continued to at least look decent for a while (though under pressure) for another twenty minutes or so, until Jozy Altidore pulled up from making a run, grabbing his hamstring.  There was no contact, so it was probably a straight pull, but he had to leave immediately, and likely won't be back for the tournament.

And the play of the US basically went to pot after that.  What followed was an hour-long siege where Howard needed to make a number of good saves and defensive plays, grabbing the ball off the ground.  Unsurprisingly, that strategy eventually failed, with Ayew finding the net (I think off a set piece, but I actually can't remember now).

That didn't really stop the siege, but the US did manage to get the ball down the field and win a corner, several minutes later.  And fortune smiled on the US there, as Brooks was not well-covered, and cleanly headed it down and away (from the corner).  That found the net, giving the US the lead again.

And despite Ghana's best efforts, they were able to hold on for the last few minutes (about four minutes of regulation, and five of stoppage), securing the vital three points.

We'll certainly take it, but by no means did the US deserve that win; they were badly outplayed for most of the game, and got very lucky.

Hopefully they can play a better game, and match the result, in the next game, against Portugal.  And hopefully Germany can also pound Ghana.  Those would be enough to guarantee the US passage through.  We'll see, though; that's a big if and a small one.