The Stars and Stripes qualified for the World cup after
being in first place in the final round of CONCACAF, ahead of Costa Rica,
Honduras and Mexico. However, this was not enough to be seeded in the draw for
the drums and played them with real "cuckoos" tournament: Germany,
clearly the favorite; Portugal, fourth selection in FIFA rankings; and Ghana,
his "bete noire" of the last two World Cups. Without their leading
scorer Landon Donovan, the "Uncle Sam" have few options to rank among
the best selections on the planet, but that's just a motivation for the team
and show the world its capabilities.
The Black Stars, meanwhile, ranked among the top five
African teams. Ghana was about to make history in the previous World
classifying the semifinals but fell on penalties against Uruguay when they had
everything going for it to be among the top four squads of the globe. Now, led
by Kwesi Appiah look "heroic" and break into the top two spots in
this group that provides access to the next round.
The friendly tour of the United States gave a hint of
what will be his performance during the World Cup, where they obtained a
victory over Azerbaijan (2-0), Turkey (2-1) and Nigeria (2-1). While selecting
Acra lost to Montenegro (0-1) and the Netherlands (0-1) but then rallied with a
win over South Korea (4-0).
