The World Cup is into the second stage of group play and the standings for Brazil 2014 has teams like the United States, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Netherlands, France, Italy and Mexico as the points leaders early on and the schedule continues this week with more matchups from Brazil as teams try and advance to the knockout round.
The United States played a very dramatic game against Ghana and they finally beat the African nation after losing to them in the past two World Cup tournaments. The team lost Jozy Altidore to a hamstring injury, but that comes with the territory and while Clint Dempsey also fractured his nose, the team was able to pull away with three crucial points and now the US has the chance to make it out of this group of death. Germany looks strong and they are nearly guaranteed to get out, meaning Ghana and Portugal now have all the pressure with their games coming up.
The United States team was not given much of a chance to get out of the Group of death, but they have shown that they can handle the pressure and now they have Portugal in Manaus in the Amazon and that could be a huge test for the team. Portugal will be without Pepe after his red card in the match against Germany and that could be the opening the team needs. Losing Altidore will hurt a great deal and Dempsey being injured is also tough, but he is one of the best players in the world and he can play through it.
Dempsey started off the US with an amazing goal just 30 seconds into the match, getting a great pass from Fabian Johnson and then he made a great play on his own and put it into the net. The team took a 1-0 lead and held it into the 80th minute and that was when Ghana scored one of their won. The team tied the game at 1-1 and it looked like the Americans lost three crucial points and were only leaving with one, but John Brooks had an answer. Brooks subbed into the game after another injury and on a corner kick from Graham Zusi that was perfect, he put the goal in net and the team was able to hang on in five extra time minutes to win the match.
Italy looks strong after winning over England, while France, Argentina, Brazil and the Netherlands are all points leaders. The Dutch won over Spain, while England now has to bounce back in their game against Uruguay.