By IVES GALARCEP
NATAL, Brazil — The U.S. Men’s National Team is back in action at the World Cup today, and a familiar foe awaits as the Americans take on Ghana for the third straight World Cup (6pm, ESPN).
The U.S. will look to snap a two-match losing streak against a Ghana said that has eliminated the Americans from the past two World Cups.
The Americans enter the match riding a three-match winning streak after rolling through their World Cup send-off series undefeated. It was a run that saw a likely starting lineup come together, as Jurgen Klinsmann put the finishing touches on a defense he will trot out to stop Ghana’s dangerous attack.
SBI will be providing live commentary from the match, so please feel free to follow along. As always, you are welcome to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (Today’s live commentary is after the jump):
We were never going to hold Ghana scoreless the entire game without much better possession and focus…
Absolutely terrible goalkeeping by Howard. Left huge opening on the near post.
Wonderfully worked by Ghana. But it’s not the first time that Timmy got his angles wrong.
You apparently never played goalkeeper. because if you did…you must have been awful due t your lack of knowledge of the position.
To be honest, a draw would be the worst case scenario for both teams.
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How’s everyone holding up? I can’t handle the pressure
+1
Crap
We’ve got to stay organized that’s all that can save us in this game.
Aagh! Sorry guys, I don’t know if I can keep watching; I just pulled my hamstring.
So much for great conditioning of the US players we kept hearing about.
Jermaine Jones I just can’t say enough about how good he’s played today. Please keep it up.
No. Not graham suzi!
Yes, Zusi.
Ghana flops and complains so much. Unreal.
Worst game of Bradley’s career. He has been one of the worst players on the field
Is jones the only real man on this team? Besides Howard he is the only one making any impact….
Who will be the 3rd US sub?
Bradley is awful tonight.. let’s hope he redeems himself at some point in the last 25 minutes.
I think JK saves it. Cam, Bedoya and FJ are all gimpy.
Ok, bring on Portugal! If we win this, I’m buying a lottery ticket…
Aside from Howard, everyone should get a below average grade. We are playing like Greece.
Despite winning we are playing terrible can’t pass the ball at all Bradley picked a great time to play his worst game
It’s obvious by now that he shrinks in important games.
Well it was obvious the day he moved to a team which won’t play many important games
yeah this is insane. i’ve never seen us play this bad even against Ukraine….
I din’t know if its over training, the if the nerves i don’t know. the whole team seems to be breaking down or losing their mind. every pass is miss timed, over weighted, no idea. there’s just so much pressure to beat ghana.
Game is getting dangerous! Boateng is coming on. Ghana is DEEP!
Bradley’s pass so far behind and over head of bedoya, he managed to injure befoya
Whats up with these guys cramping up? What was all that so called intense training for? No Cameron and Brooks at CB? This is getting scary.
On another note Brooks is finally cap tied
Team playing so much better under the genius Klinnsman, I seem to remember a lot more possession against Ghana in both last World Cups.
Maybe Julian Green will save the day. Because you know Donovan is not really good enough for this team.
Klinnsman is a fraud!
Let it go! The players are not playing well. Bradley is playing like crap. We also do not have a possession forward to release pressure.
howard and jones man of match for usa
This game is showing how/why the USA is missing Donovan.
With the three center mids, Bedoya is in for set piece kicks, and that ain’t happening. With Zusi and Davis there, I thought, well, there’s two guys who are as good or better on the set piece kicks. The USA lives and dies on set pieces….except with this lineup, we won’t. And you can’t play Davis against Ghana because he’s too slow. Donovan can play Ghana — he had a great game 4 years ago. This is something we’re seriously missing. We can’t match Ghana when the ball is in play, but on set pieces, we should be able to score…if there’s someone to set ‘em up. Bedoya ain’t that guy.
Yeah, the announcers in Spanish are all over that. Howard is our best man right now.
come on brooks!!
We can talk about formations for months but we all know that when the important games start we bunker and counter attack. Always.
We didn’t against Mexico in 2011.
Dayum ruff game so far…
US has got to change their approach or Ghana will take advantage of their possession eventually.
yep
So did the Ghana player put his hand on the neck of jones or did I imagine that?f
US making a bad team look good. Long passes just turning it over. Bradley needs to get in the game
Ghana is a GOOD team. Their ranking is way off. They have one of the better midfields in the tournament/world. Think about this, they are not even starting Kevin Prince Boateng and Michael Essien. They are deeper than USA.
Sorry but a good team would have taken advantage of the many opportunities they had tonight. Glad they didn’t.
After the goal, USMNT reverted to World Cup mentality…score, bunker down and relinquish possession. They need to maintain more possession otherwise is just a matter of time.
Sounds like Brooks is coming on
this witch doctor is kicking our ass
this day has made me believe a little
Landon wit dat “they” talk..smh
Maa, the meatloaf!
Klinsi needs to switch Jones to Beckermans spot.Bring on Zusi in Jones Spot and a straight swap for Beas and Chandler.Beas is not physical enough to put a body on Atsu.
Then we are out subs tho
LOL, he thought this was another friendly.
Damn, good point.Maybe not two subs at half but def both of these moves by the 70th min.
Also now we are subbing Besler out for Brooks, so only just one left
So nervous right now, we can play so much better then this I hope
KWESI WHERE YOU AT SON?!
Also, we NEED to do something different in front of Beasley. Put Zusi on and tell him to freaking stand there.
Wow… We’re lucky he crossed inside instead of running in for one-on-one.
Beasley need to be subbed anyone else agree?
He’s been the weak link, but Chandler makes me even more nervous
noooooooooo nope i like him
This is what sucks. If Cherundolo was healthy we could have moved Fabian to the left. I still don’t know why we did not bring a back up to Jozy (Boyd or Johnson). Sorry…but I I just don’t buy into Wondolowski.
ESPN will have a reason to ask that question at half…
yup
That’s another yellow that doesn’t get called.
USA is NOT looking good. They cannot maintain possession.
I agree. They are not possessing, passing good. Despite the lead Ghana is dictating the game. Only thing saving us it Ghana is horrible in the final third. JK needs to ream the guys out.
bradley needs to play better
Agreed, he isn’t connecting very well right now.
need to just get to half with this score line, and then sort a few things out
thats a fucccckkkkking red card
Nope! Yellow at worst for the Dempsey incident.
Christian Atsu is a heck of a player. kudo to Beasley for keeping him in check.
What happened?? How? Jozy???? Why???? I can’t believe this. This guy was suppose to be our goal getter this WC
it looked bad not like a pull
He had to be nursing an injury from training that looked soft
We need some possession badly…Ghana targeting Beas’ side trying to isolate him…stressing our coverage having to continually rotate over.
Beasley’s having a nightmare so far. Definitely the weak link.
Yes, they attack and attack there and score no goals.
bacooooooooonnnnnnn!!!!!!
i really hop altidore is ok. YOU GUYS GOT YOUR WISH FOR DONAVON YOU HAPPY?
time to samba AJ
Damn