The United States and Portugal are playing on the World Cup schedule for the group of Death from Manaus and the matchup is live on ESPN starting up at 6 pm ET and is a huge game for Team USA and it will be live from WatchESPN as Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal try to rebound and the US will be looking to punch a ticket to the knockout round.
The United States comes into the game with some major momentum after beating Ghana and they will have much more confidence heading into this game after getting the victory in the opening group match. The Group G draw has been called the group of death in this tournament and the United States was not given much of a chance to advance out into the knockout stage but they are in very good position to do that with a point or a win in Sunday.
The matchup against Portugal has plenty of intrigue and storyline coming in, as both Cristiano Ronaldo and Clint Dempsey are both coming in banged up and their health could be a major factor in this game. Both teams will without important players
Players like Michael Bradley, Graham Zusi, Chris Wondolowski and Aron Johanssen will need to step up with Altidore out and if the United States can somehow win this game, there is a chance the star can return for the knockout stages. Ghana was strong towards the end of the first match for the United States and Tim Howard had to stave off some late shots to preserve the win and moving forward the US team will have to play much cleaner when they are possessing the ball.
If the Americans make it to the knockout stage in the round of sixteen they will still have their work cut out for them in their next matchup, as teams like Brazil, France, Costa Rica, Argentina, Germany and the Netherlands will be there waiting. The American side left Landon Donovan off the final roster and that was a controversial move at the time and now it could come back to bite the team a little with Altidore out and they are hoping that he is able to return if the team makes it into the group stage. Dempsey scored as impressive a goal as has been scored in the World Cup and he is they key player along with Bradley as the US team tries to advance and players like Jermaine Jones and Julian Green can be factors as well.
Check here for the stream coverage from ESPN.and for the score to the game.
