The Group of Death

Photo Courtesy GFE Sport

 

There is a lot of talk about the U.S. national team competing in the 2014 FIFA World Cup. But it is not regarding the team’s performance. No, the talks all revolve around the “Death Group.” With being drawn to a group with such high class teams like Germany, Portugal, and Ghana, many U.S. supporters do not feel they will make it past the group stage. I however, beg to differ.

The USA team has had great success in the recent tournaments and proven to be a worthy adversary. Let’s take a look at the break down.

Team USA started building this team with the recruitment of coach Jürgen Klinsmann, and has shown poise after a shaky start in the beginning of his national team campaign. He lead the U.S. national team to a Gold Cup Title against Panama. The success preceding Gold Cup 2013 was inevitable. Klinsmann found the recipe of success and took USA to a commanding lead in the tables toward World Cup 2014 Qualification. These factors played a big role on the team's chemistry and they display great confidence to carry out quality play even against tough teams.

Coming into this group, we can see why they call it the “Death Group.” This year’s death group consists of national teams from Germany, Portugal, Ghana, and USA. From the get-go, we can see this being a tough challenge for USA. Historically, our team does not have a strong record against Ghana. Although always close matches, Ghana tends to pull away in the remaining minutes of play.  

Next we have Portugal, another world class talent pull. With such players as Pepe and Coentrao holding back the line, Portugal has a strong defense that many talents cannot break through, and who can forget of the all star midfielder Christiano Ronaldo. With a player of his caliber, the group just got a lot tougher. To top it all off, Germany is in this already explosive lineup. A fully designed machine capable of destroying the most composed of teams. They are set with an array of high profile players, and a goalkeeper that likes his clean sheets.

The group of death is certainly one for the books, but if the U.S. national team is to pull something off, this is the stage to do it in. With most of its backbone talent derived from Europe, the USA national team has made a name for itself in defeating such high profile teams in friendlies.The proficiency of Klinsmann, and the talent that has developed for this national team, will prove some exciting matches and surprising results!