Andre Ayew of Ghana
After the last two world cups in Germany in 2006 and South Africa in 2010, American football (or should we say soccer) lovers must have been sick and tired of the sight of the Ghanaian national football team and anything directly or remotely related to Ghanaian football, as the American team were knocked out of both tournaments by the African team who always seem to find their best form on the world scene. Therefore, when the two teams were again paired to face-off in the Group G opener of the current World Cup, the Ghanaians were quietly confident of a good result and that must have resulted into their apparent lack of concentration, as thirty seconds into the match, the tables were turned when American striker, Clint Dempsey glided past John Boye and Sulley Muntari to put his team into the lead, scoring the fastest goal so far at the 2014 World Cup and the fifth fastest ever.
Clint Dempsey strokes the USA into the lead
To say the Ghanians were stunned would be a massive understatement and Jozy Altidore of the USA almost took advantage of this to score a second for his side but his shot was blocked. From there however, the West African team regrouped and were back on the front foot before the end of the first half, as Jordan Ayew had a great chance to level after a pass from Christian Atsu but the 22-year old striker couldn’t find the target.
Before the match, American midfielder, Michael Bradley had spoken of the willingness of his team to suffer in order to achieve glory at this world cup and but even he must not have expected the amount of suffering they got, as apart from having to deal with the attacking onslaught of the desperate Ghanians, the American team also had to contend with injuries to their star attackers, Jozy Altidore whose tournament has been ended with an hamstring injury and goal scorer, Clint Dempsey who suffered a broken nose after getting a boot to his face.
Jozy Altidore
Clint Dempsey
It seemed all the suffering would be in vain and Ghana would once again make Americans sad as after wasting chance after chance which would have ensured a comfortable victory due to a lack of composure, the Black Stars through Jordan Ayew got an equalizing goal in the 82nd minute which was just 8 minutes to the end of the game.
Late equaliser for Ghana
At this stage, the Americans seemed content with a draw, while the Ghanaians pushed forward for a winning goal but in a twist not out of character with this World Cup, United States defender, John Brooks nodded home the winner just four minutes later from a corner kick to send the utterly disappointed Ghanaians home empty handed and break the Ghanaian shackles off the USA.
An even later goal sends the USA home happy
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Damilola Orehin is a freelance creative writer with interesting opinions and analysis of sports, entertainment and social issues. He has written on several established print and online platforms and he showcases his deep-rooted passion for a wide variety of sports at tecmosports.blogspot.com.
Follow him on twitter @Kundammy
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