The USA Has Beaten Ghana.

In the 2006 World Cup the USA played Ghana and lost 2-1. In the 2010 World Cup the USA played Ghana and lost 2-1. So when the USA was drawn against Ghana in their opening Group G game at the 2014 World Cup everyone kind of knew what to expect.

The USA's problem is that despite knowing all the rules and how the game is played they still don't quite get football. Having been raised on a steady diet of American Football they still seem to think that you have a rigid defencive line, a rigid mid-field line and a rigid attacking line. Those lines then move up and down the pitch almost as if they were held together on steel bars like on a Foosball table. This is a perfectly serviceable way to play the game and is certainly good at helping to avoid defeat. However it means that the USA tend to lack the creative flair needed to win games.

The relatively young Ghanaian side are almost the exact opposite with tons of pace and lots of individual flair although they tend to lack the sort of coherent shape needed to win games. As such the USA's approach to the game was clearly to try and score an early goal before sitting back to defend the one nil lead.

Last night the first part of that strategy worked extremely well with Clint Dempsey scoring the fifth quickest goal in a World Cup finals after just 29 seconds. If anything that worked too well knocking the Ghanaians off balance meaning that they struggled to put together a coherent attack to force the USA to defend. Although this left the USA able to attempt some attacks of their own it meant that I spent most of the game trying to identify incidents to talk about.

One of the first of these occurred after about 20 minutes when Jozy Altidore pulled up with a hamstring injury and had to be substituted. This type of injury makes it difficult to walk let alone run around controlling a ball with your feet. They also normally take about 6-8 weeks to fully heal so Altidore might be lucky but it looks like his World Cup is already over and the USA will have to apply to FIFA for permission to bring in a replacement.

The next interesting incident occurred after about 30 minutes when Dempsey and Ghanaian player whose name I missed both jumped up to head the ball. As is allowed this involved them both jostling each other with their shoulders. Dempsey won the challenge but as the Ghanaian player fell back his leg came up smashing Dempsey right on the nose. Despite the fact he was able to continue this either broke or came very close to breaking Dempsey's nose and there was blood everywhere the referee rightly took no action against either player because there was no malicious intent meaning that it was just part of the rough and tumble of the game.

An incident where the referee perhaps should have taken more action occurred late in the first half when Jermaine Jones tackled Sulley Muntari. This involved Jones kicking Muntari in the head not once but twice with the second kick seeming somewhat intentional. As such Jones should probably have been booked for a reckless challenge. What perhaps saved him was Muntari's reaction which involved him lunging forward towards Jones and only stopping himself punching Jones full in the face at the very last moment.

After the break the USA continued to be happy to defend and Ghana continued to struggle to put an attack together. This changed a little when Kevin-Prince Boateng which sort inspired Ghana to start playing the way everybody knew they could. This increased pressure paid of after 82 minutes when Andre Ayew drew Ghana level. Unfortunately for Ghana for minutes later they gave a way a corner kick when the USA were really just trying to run down the clock. This led to a pretty typical American goal with John Brooks rising above the players in the penalty area to head the ball into the net for - I think - his first every goal.

That's how it finished so although the victors have changed the scoreline remains the same.

Although I suspect no-one in America is listening to me right now I can't help feel that this is a bit of a bad result for the group. That's because in the other group game Germany demolished Portugal 4-0. Many will say that the turning point in the match came when Pepe was sent off for violent conduct after head-butting Muller right in front of the referee whilst the referee was already considering booking him over another incident. However by that point Portugal were already 2-0 down and were looking very vulnerable.

As such I can just about see the USA being able to grind out a draw with Portugal if they can contain the threat of Ronaldo especially with Pepe being banned. However I can also see Ghana outscoring Portugal to secure a win. So if Ghana had won or even drawn against the USA they could go through with 6 or even 4 points ending the almost certainty that Germany and Portugal will progress from the group.

In the other game of the day a mis-firing Nigeria secured the first 0-0 draw of the tournament against Iran and that's all I can say about that game even if the Iranians did celebrate their point as if they'd won the trophy.

15:55 on 17/6/14 (UK date).