Match date: 16 June 2014

The United States came into the match with Jurgen Klinsmann, their own coach, suggesting that they would not be able to get out of the group. With Germany, Portugal, and Ghana being the other members, many assumed the United States would realistically be in a competition for a third place showing in the group. With the way Germany defeated Portugal earlier in the day, it certainly gave the United States more hope.

There was a lot of speculation that Klinsmann would set the side out in 4-4-2 with a diamond midfield, but this never seemed to take shape as the proposed shuttlers in Jones and Bedoya took up wide positions and Bradley dropped next to Beckerman. It would have been interesting to see, had the United States not scored so early into the match, whether Klinsmann planned to play with a diamond but then opted to defend.

Kwesi Appiah set Ghana out in a 4-2-3-1, meaning they had control of the midfield as they looked to get back into the game.

United States Quick Lead, Ghana’s 80 Minute Response

The almost immediate lead by the United States was incredibly problematic for Ghana, not simply for the obvious reason that they were a goal down, but because Ghana struggle against compact, defensive sides, which is immediately what the United States became once Clint Dempsey scored. Ghana’s strength lies in their ability to counter attack extremely quickly, with the likes of Christian Atsu, the Ayew brothers, and Gyan. Whereas a team like Spain can recover much easier to an early goal and the scoring team’s consequentially defensive approach because they are setup to break down compact defensive shapes.

It was fascinating (and painful) to see the pattern and predictability of Ghana’s attacks. It seemed as though every opportunity they had to go forward, they were fixed on attacking the left side of the United States’ defense. Perhaps Appiah identified DaMarcus Beasley as a potential weakness as the American usually only plays in the full back position for the national team having been primarily a left winger for the majority of his playing career. Ghana were certainly able to cause the United States problems down the right, but failed to take their chances. Below, you can see how often the right sided players for Ghana received the ball in dangerous positions.

Compare that with the Ayew brothers, Andre played on the left and rarely touched the ball in good areas of the pitch on the left and Jordan was forced to move to the right to get involved in play.

It became an increasingly frustrating pattern to watch, however. Ghana looked uncomfortable and out of ideas playing against a compact side. They resorted to the two things you do not want to do when chasing a game: unrealistic shots from outside the area and pumping crosses into the opponent’s penalty area, especially from deep positions. Yet Ghana were persistent in their attempts to do both. Daniel Opare, in particular, was guilty of the second. As he went up the field to support Atsu, who had the beating of Beasley a few times throughout the night, he would receive the ball and also immediately look to cross it from a deep position.

Asamoah Gyan, who scored the winner against the United States in the 2010 World Cup, was capable of supporting the build up play for Ghana, but the space he left was never used by another player and he isn’t the type of player that can get onto the end of crosses with any regularity. He ran the channels fairly well, however, and Ghana’s equalising goal came as the result of that run. For what may have been the first time, once Gyan ran into the channel, one of the other Ghanaian players reacted the the centre back following Gyan and ran into the space that opened up.

United States Defend, Fail to Manage Game

As mentioned above, any plans to play with a midfield diamond were put to the side as soon as Dempsey scored his goal. At that point, the United States began to defend in a midblock with two banks of four, with Dempsey and Altidore trying to cut off passing lanes. The United States did well to force Ghana into the wide areas, making them less effective, but the problem was not the defensive shape of the United States, but rather their ability to put any pressure on Ghana.

As the first half progressed, the United States dropped deeper towards their penalty area, inviting Ghanaian pressure. This is fine, if your side also attempts to counter attack, but the United States never seemed capable of keeping the ball for any period of time. Michael Bradley, who is usually the best player at retaining possession for the United States, was overrun in midfield as it was 3v2 in Ghana’s favour. Clint Dempsey as well failed to really help out in midfield when the United States had the ball. Ghana were easily able to recovery the ball in the middle third of the field and exert pressure on the United States’ defenders once again.

Klinsmann had chances to help the United States change the pattern of the match. He could have moved Dempsey deeper, changing the shape to a 4-4-¼-2-3-1, but Dempsey stayed high up the pitch with Altidore while the latter was on the pitch. Once Altidore had to be replaced due to injury, Klinsmann had another chance to alter the shape and match Ghana in the midfield, allowing the United States to retain the ball a bit better and alleviate some of the pressure from the back four. Despite being just 23 minutes into the match, it was already clear that Ghana were going to be able to dominate the match with the United States in a 4-4-2, so it was interesting that Klinsmann opted to replace Altidore with Johannsson, who does not offer the same qualities that Altidore does. Johannsson was willing to pressure the centre backs and run the channels, but he does not possess the ability to hold the ball up as well as Altidore does, which is what the United States needed when they broke forward.

Changes

Klinsmann was forced into making two changes, one being Altidore, the other being Matt Besler off for John Brooks, who scored the winner late on in the match. Later he took off Bedoya for Zusi, with little impact on the match.

Appiah, however, could have had a significant impact on the match with his substitutions. Instead, he made three straight swaps and kept the formation the same, despite dominating the match in terms of possession and chances. With the insistence to attack down the right, a player more capable of crossing than Daniel Opare could have helped Ghana break down the United States defense much easier. For much of the match, Opare did not have to do any defensive work so a winger or wing back could have replaced him. With a right wing back/winger like Inkoom on the bench, it was odd that Appiah opted to keep Opare on.

Conclusion

It would have been interesting to see how this game played out had Dempsey not scored so early. The United States would have felt the need to dictate proceedings and may have stayed in their diamond defense. The possession and narrow play would have allowed Ghana to show their counter attacking capabilities well.

However, the United States did score early, but their response to that early goal was one the a United States supporter should question. They immediately became a reactive side and were poor in doing so and were lucky that Ghana’s final ball was usually very, very poor. Despite all this, the United States were able to get the winner from a set piece from a very emotional John Brooks.