By IVES GALARCEP
MANAUS, Brazil — Win and they reach the World Cup Round of 16, lose and things will get extremely complicated.
That’s the task at hand for the U.S. Men’s National Team as a victory against Portugal today at Arena Amazonia would secure a place in the knockout rounds for the Americans, who would move into first place in Group G with a win.
Standing in the way is Portugal and reigning World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo, who will look to erase the memories of a disappointing 4-0 loss to Germany by torching a U.S. defense that showed signs of vulnerability against Ghana.
For some pre-game reading, here is my Goal.com piece on how the U.S. team will go about stopping Ronaldo. Also, former U.S. World Cup hero Brad Friedel chimes in with a detailed breakdown of what it’s like to face a Cristiano Ronaldo free kick.
SBI will be providing live commentary on today’s match so please feel free to follow the action here. As always, you are welcome to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (Today’s commentary is after the jump):
Yedlin is truly the future of us soccer no hype
and i think Beckerman is gassed too
Bedoya and Zusi are below par today
Meireles is out because Beckerman hit him the mouth in the first half. Go Dreads!
JJ…Beastly!
Goallll!!!!!!!!! Bring all the Germans to the national team for all I care !!! Jones, FJ, Brooks. Even Green I love all of you
Jones!!!! and the US scores from outside
Anyone still think Bradley is better than Jones?
it doesn’t matter who is better, they are the two best in our pool and they must play together
JJ “dy-NO-Mite”.
GOOOOOAAAALLLL!!!!
Portuguese defenders putting their bodies on the line.
No Donovan and Bradley are killing us!!! I cant take this!!
Fabian Johnson is a freaking star plus Ronaldo has no interest in defending!!
Why are we letting Portugal dictate the game?? We are freaking behind!!
Don’t think Portugal is dictating the game at all. We own possession and chances but not finishing. To some extent reverse of USA v Ghana.
Wow.
Bradley killing a chance at a goal shooting it right at the defender to. Bench him bring in mix
You are freaking nuts
Please. I’m honest. Bradley is horrid on defense has floated every single pass and blew the tying chance
Bradley isn’t the star of the game, but there is no way Mixx does more
You still gonna defend bradleys sorry a*s?
the last goal was his fault, I said it below – but he is not garbage or any of the other descriptives used on this page
Bradley a better defender then Mix in the middle.
He was garbage in this game.
Zusi is not having a good game at all
Bradley playing like garbage again. Completely killed a wicked chance at a counter with a horrid pass and lazy on defence
My thoughts exactly. Lazy, lazy, lazy. Didn’t pressure anyone, didn’t hustle, didn’t even give chase after he lost the ball. His play ultimately cost them the game.
just catching up – how in the world is the first goal Beasley’s fault? He was playing the line with the defense and Cameron shanked an easy clearance. There were 3 portugese back there, not just nani
100% Cameron’s fault. If he made a competent clearance they never would have scored.
who blamed it on him?
Right after the goal Ives put the blame on Beasley.
The SBI staff in the Live Match Commentary.
Wow they blamed Beasley? Ives is off on that one. That was clearly Cameron fault with the bad clearance. I thought Cameron had a strong game except for the 2 goals he gave up
goal was all on cameron.
Funny thing about that goal is Nani has a wide open net and puts in near the crossbar. I think he was afraid Howard might get it. RESPECT!!
We’ve been the better team outside of Cameron’s massive mistake. What is MB doing not closing down that shot that hit the post though? He’s been playing extremely lazy on defense the last two games. If you’re going to be in position, close somebody down, don’t walk or stand there.
exactly i was screaming 4 him to close down that whole sequence but he just let him shoot
AMAZING!q!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bradley been pretty bad. He missed that easy goal and his turnover is what caused that tie.
Stupid parking the bus and not trying until scored on is what lead to this.
It’s almost like we don’t believe in ourselves. These guys are clearly not better than us.
Absolutely no question USA looks the better team. All the talk about how many players from Portugal were in the Champions League doesn’t mean squat. Portugal has had about 5 minutes of good play this game…
we need to get a corner or finish our chances
I don’t know what to think. We’ve had some half chances and the lion’s share of possession, but that’s probably a result of Portugal taking the early lead. Hopefully we can tie it up early in the second half and go for the win.
smh cameron other than that we played well
Timmy! Top notch double save.
Cool tackle Beckerman!!
I’m ok with Portuguese players rolling on the ground in the 15′ minute.
Perfect time for him to score.
Perfect time for Nani to learn how to play soccer again where was he all season for Man Utd
Where you at Fast Eddie? How about that that false 9? hahahhahahahha
I’m stretched and ready….
Let’s GO USA. Deuce leading the line!
I BELIEVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
im hot already nervous
LEGGOOOOOOOOO
Please stop talking Alexi Lalas
“@grahamruthven: The BBC just showed a montage with the USA as the International Space Station and Ronaldo as the Death Star.”
That’s it I’m pro Scottish independence now
so ESPN brought Donovan in to basically passive-aggressively troll Klinsmann.
Nice….ugh.
Is it passive aggressive? I’m pretty sure it’s openly and actively aggressive.
He said what most are thinking. Too damn defensive. We played ghana defensively with a forward and then he goes into portugal without and out and out forward. I agreed with LD.
Screw Jurgen!! We can blame Bradley or Cameron but this is Jurgen fault. He went too defensive in the end and it costed us. The Ghana game Jurgen got lucky in that one. I knew it right when Gonzo came into the game for a 3 CB I was thinking if they give 5 extra mins in stoppage time we are screwed. Thanks Jurgen for having no faith on your team out there. After that 2nd goal none of our attacks was dangerous from that point on
Was hoping Chandler got the start
Beasley played really well I thought in the first game, goal wasn’t his fault. He worked his butt off all game. Chandler looked terrible in the friendly he played. A player shouldn’t be benched because another team attacks him all game.
+1
I like Chandler but I don’t know how match fit he is since he was away for so long. I love Beasley at LB. He did another solid job today
too defensive of a line-up 🙁
My thoughts as well. Let’s not play for the tie
Not sure if I’m up for this lineup! We should be able to control the midfield play enough to put pressure on Porto. I hate that it seems like were going for a tie. I’d rather play to win instead of playing too close to the vest. JK has to be terrified of defending the Porto. counters I guess.
Other topic: Wonder why ESPN/ABC etc thinks that it must employ so many commentators with British/Scottish, Irish etc.. accents. Are there not enough qualified American English speaking soccer experts to comment on the games? Not trying to be anything other than someone who has a difficult time ‘getting all of the commentary’….
In short, yes. We have a shortage of good American commentators.
I live in the burbs of Seattle. Driving home from the store last night, a giant digital billboard near my neighborhood was advertising the match. This country has come a long way as a footballing nation. This will be a watershed moment in our footballing history. So many people will be watching. I’m so pumped! I believe that we will win tonight!
Our Time Is Now
https://soundcloud.com/the-ex-gentlemen/our-time-is-now-by-the-ex
For our boys in Brazil!
Battle of the midfield today.
————Dempsey———–
—Zusi—Bradley—Bedoya—
—–Jones——Beckerman—–
Beas—Besler—Cameron—FJ
————-Howard————
I really like this lineup.
JK rockin the Centennial crest shirt today. He knows it’s magical.
I
I BELIEVE
Part of keeping Ronaldo out of the game is having better possession in all 1/3 of the field. The US will have to move better off the ball, get into space, play compact up and down the field, short passing, and the USMNT will have the game in there hands.
Let’s take care of business, boys.Go USA!!!!
4-5-1 is back!
Woohoo!
Why is Beasley in the game? He’s awful
You’re awful.
I know you are but what am i?
Sorry
Beasley had a good game. He’s in there cause his our best LB.