Ghana 2-U.S.A. 1

The U.S. got the result from Italy (2-0 over the Czechs...poor Czech Republic, opening with that incredible win and ending up with nothing to show for it...I guess Jan Koller was pretty important, eh?) but couldn't beat Ghana. In fact, the Americans could not even tie Ghana. There will probably be a lot of griping about this result, and I think that a draw was most likely merited, but in the end, the U.S. simply could not score when it mattered most. Ghana is a very worthy sacrificial lamb for Brazil and I congratulate the Black Stars (that's actually their nickname, look at the flag) for advancing out of an extremely competitive group.