FIFA World Cup 2014: The Battle For Group G


By Oliver Ngwenya    26-Jun-2014 20:04 UTC+02:00

imageThursday will mark the end of the road for two Group G teams that are attending this year’s FIFA World Cup finals in Brazil as it has for others in the previous groups. The group, which comprises German, United States of America, Ghana and Portugal,is theoretically still open for anyone to qualify to go on to the second round of the World soccer showcase.

While German currently top the group with four points, so does the second placed USA. The only reason why they top the league is because they have a healthier goal difference of four while their American counterparts only boast of a goal difference of one. Also tied on points at the bottom are Portugal and African hopefuls, Ghana. That, is basically where the fight is going to be. While the first spot is almost certainly going to German unless the USA win the encounter between the two nations.

While that is certainly no easy debate, the Germans are not likely to allow themselves to be pushed around by the Americans since coming second will mean that they will face group leaders for group H, which is most likely going to be merciless Belgium. While they are not a big name in soccer circles, they have taken the big name script and torn it to shreds in this World Cup. A good coach would therefore want to steer as clear away from such teams as possible. It will therefore be a good assumption that German would want to win their match. At the same time, the Americans know that the second place is not guaranteed to them. If they lose the match, they may be knocked out on a goal difference. What seems to work for both these teams is that they play to a draw. That way, whatever happens with the others teams in the group, they are assured of progressing to the next round.

The second half of the group as it were, is composed of desperate teams that have nothing to lose. They both are in with a chance to qualify into the next round if especially the USA lose their match. In particular, Ghana will qualify if they score more than two goals if the USA lose by 1-0. It will be more difficult for Portugal to qualify since they have to win by a margin of more five goals given the presumed 1-0 loss of the Americans. This is not, however, impossible as this World Cup has shown that goals are easy to come by. One would have hoped for more receptive opponents for them though.


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