USA VS GHANA: IT'S A DO OR DIE FOR BOTH BOTH TEAMS

The United States will play Ghana in a massive Group G clash from Brazil 2014 on Monday night. The World Cup 2014 tournament has already had some huge games, and just earlier Germany and Portugal – also Group G teams – faced off against one another. However, today’s game between Ghana and USA has huge stakes, as both teams know that with two European powerhouses in their group, this is basically a must-win for both teams if they are to have any chance of progressing.

These two sides have more recent history than anyone else in the World Cup, having met in the last two editions of the tournament. Ghana was victorious and sent the United States packing on both of those occasions, sparking a bit of a rivalry, at least in the minds of the fans. A third straight loss to Ghana would be a bit embarrassing for USMNT supporters, though this is an excellent Ghana side, and there’s no shame in losing to them.

The biggest tactical question heading into the match is whether the coaches have found their best teams. Jürgen Klinsmann has switched to a diamond midfield and were testing new players in new spots all the way until the end of the United States’ friendly matches, while fitness problems might cause Akwasi Appiah to do some shuffling.

It is fair to say that for the losers of today’s clash between USA and Ghana, the changes of progressing would be basically zero. Nobody would put predict that either Ghana or the United States have teams capable of pulling of consecutive wins against Germany and Portugal, and so this game here today is already a pivotal moment for these teams.  Both the teams have enough talent to take points from those games, and they haven’t come into this World Cup thinking that they’re incapable of making a deep run. They can put together three solid performances, then win a knockout stage game, but it’s difficult to see either of them doing it without grabbing all three points from their opener on Monday

A draw here probably would not help either team as well, so we can expect an open game between two teams that know three points is a must to even have a slim chance of making the top two in the group. Even with a win, things will be tough, as the winning team would still likely need to take down one of Germany or Portugal to get to the magic 6 point mark.

Projected lineups

United States (4-4-2): Tim Howard;DaMarcus Beasley, Matt Besler, Geoff Cameron, Fabian Johnson; Kyle Beckerman, Alejandro Bedoya, Jermaine Jones, Michael Bradley; Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore

Ghana (4-3-3): Adam Kwarasey; Kwadwo Asamoah, John Boye, Jonathan Mensah, Harrison Afful; Mohammed Rabiu, Sulley Muntari, Kevin-Prince Boateng; Andre Ayew, Asamoah Gyan, Jordan Ayew