re: Official USMNT World Cup Long Thread

It's not Clinton with a beer and a shirtless Boca, but Biden visited the locker room.

He opened with, "This is a big fricking deal!"

quote:

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so a tie with portual pretty much ensures we make it, unless ghana can beat both germany and portugal

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Yup.
There are several situations where the USA will advance.

USA Win vs Portugal:

- One Ghana Loss or Tie clinches... or
- Win or Tie vs Germany... or
- Advance on Goal Differential (GD) if Ghana wins out & USA loses to Germany (currently 2 goal lead).


USA Tie vs Portugal:

(USA + Germay Advance)
- Ghana loses to Germany and beats or ties Portugal ... or
- Advance on GD over Portugal (5 goal lead) with Ghana losing to Germany and Portugal.

(USA + Ghana Advance) {TL;DR - Ghana needs to beat Germany and USA needs to tie/beat Germany}
- Ghana beats Germany and Portugal & USA ties or beats Germany... or
- Ghana beats Germany and ties Portugal & USA beats Germany... or
- Ghana beats Germany and ties Portugal & USA ties Germany & advance on GD. Ghana needs to be make up 5 goals on Germany; USA needs 3 goals.

(USA + Portugal Advance) {TL;DR - not very likely}
- Ghana beats Germany, Portugal beats Ghana, & USA beats Germany... or
- Ghana beats Germany, Portugal beats Ghana, & USA ties Germany & advance on GD. Portugal needs to make up 8 goals on Germany; USA needs 3 goals.


USA Loss to Portugal:

- USA beats Germany, Germany loses to or ties Ghana... or
- US ties Germany, Germany and Portugal tie Ghana, & advance on GD (4-way tie)... or
- US ties Germany, Germany ties Ghana, Ghana beats Portugal, & advance on GD... or
- US loses to Germany, Germany beats Ghana, Ghana beats Portugal, & advance on GD.

If any of you are wondering why Jermaine is playing so well it's because he has no club to go back too once the world cup is over so he's playing for his job.

I'm only being quais-sarcastic but I can assure it is certainly contributing to his great form at the moment.

I had to put this somewhere.

I never thought it was intentional. I thought he got off balance and was trying not to fall backwards, but I was getting another beer and only saw the slow motion replays.

They never really showed the sequence from the regular sideline camera so that's the only view we have but I mean his boot is high so it seems like an easy call regardless of his intention.

Group G Standings after first round of games:

Team Record Points GD
Germany: 1-0-1 4 +4
USA : 1-0-1 4 +1
Ghana : 0-1-1 1 -1
Portgual: 0-1-1 1 -4

All Scenarios of final Group G Standings:

U.S. wins: We win the group

Germany would finish second unless Ghana or Portugal won and passed Germany on goal differential. Germany currently is plus 4, Ghana is minus 1 and Portugal is minus 4. The second place finisher plays the winner of Group H.

Germany wins: they win the group.

The U.S. would finish second unless Ghana or Portugal won and passed the U.S. on goal differential. The U.S. is plus 1, Ghana is minus 1 and Portugal is minus 4. So, if the U.S. loses to Germany, it will be rooting for Portugal, because it's less likely that Portugal could pass the U.S. on goal differential.

Germany and the U.S. draw: Germany wins the group and the U.S. finishes second.

If Ghana and Portugal draw: The U.S. and Germany advance. Germany wins the group unless the U.S. defeats them.

Other tiebreakers: In any of these scenarios involving goal differential, if two teams are tied on points and goal differential, the next tiebreaker is total goals scored. Germany has six goals, the U.S. has four, Ghana has three and Portugal has two.