The US goes through with a win or a draw, or a draw in the Ghana-Portugal game, or a lose and if the winner of the Ghana Portugal game doesn’t make up goal differential (which means the US should favor a Portugal win since they lost badly to Germany).
I think so. If the US loses against Germany, it’ll come down to goal difference because both Ghana and Portugal are at 1 point each
Depends. I think if Portugal wins and the US loses we can get through on goal differential. As I said, I wonder what the chances are of a, shall we say, gentleman’s agreement between the US and Germany.
Thank you both. So basically we all just have to root for lotta draws
Didn’t you see those beer commercials during football season?
If the ball falls to Klose in the box, I can’t see him thinking “oh wait, Jogi told me not to score.”
He obviously wouldn’t.
He would think “oh wait, Klinsy told me not to score” 
UGH!! What was left, 30 seconds??? He’ll of a header though.
Great game all around. Now we play Germany? Eeeep.
Well, that was about as awful a tie as I have ever witnessed in WC soccer.
Fuckity fuck fuck… What, 5 more seconds, and the US is out of their pool and onto the next round… And yet, no. A beautiful crossing pass with a perfect header keeps Portugal alive and crushes the US’s demeanor in one quick motion.
The US is not out of it, but facing Germany in the last game is a bad way to end the group play. It would have been fantastic to see the US already qualified for the next round, and see how they could play Germany without any pressure on them. Now, they have to tie Germany to assure themselves a spot in the next round, and that will not be an easy feat.
I went from happy and screaming to sad and depressed in 5 minutes.
The US played a great match. What a terrible way to end a match they dominated (IMO, anyway).
It will be nice to see if the US can show up against Germany, but this was the one they should have won. And they had it won… If not for that last play.
What a kick in the groin with a steel-toed boot.
I think I’m missing something. What appeal would a manufactured draw have to Germany? I mean, obviously it’d be nice for the US, but it’s not as if Germany outright losing is a likely possibility.
ETA: Ah, just got it - Germany would come first and the US second.
Me too. What an awful thing to let a goal in during the 5th minute of stoppage time. We had the keys to advancing to the next round in our hand and lost them. It’s going to be tough to get up for Thursday.
Low effort, less chance of injuries or cards.
I don’t think they’d do it, of course, but that would be the theoretical appeal - do just enough and save your players for the later stages.
They would go through as the group winner. I don’t know why people think Germany will win easily, the USA is playing very well.
I don’t think anyone thinks that. However, the chance Germany wins, and the other game ends so that the US is out is a hell of a lot better than the US being out if MICHAEL BRADLEY FUCKING FINISHES THE GAME OUT.
Ok… deep breaths… fuck.
Sure qualification at the top of the group isn’t enough incentive?
Yeah, i wouldn’t count the US out against Germany.
That said, if the US and Germany do decide to manufacture a “gentleman’s draw,” they better not make it too obvious or there could be hell to pay. Germany, in particular, will be conscious of the impact of a manufactured result after the Shame of Gijon.
What impact? FIFA changed the group stage regulations for all later world cups but neither the Germans or the Austrians received any sanction at all.
The Germany vs USA game is going to be very interesting. While an actual, formally rigged game (midnight phone calls in hushed voices :D) is probably not happening, both teams could just kind of decide while playing to take it easy, not destroy their hamstrings, etc.
Well, maybe impact was the wrong word. Public reaction would probably have been better. I think that manufactured results are still on the cards, but i don’t think any teams would be quite so brazen about it anymore. That’s why i said that if the USA and Germany do decide to settle for a draw, they should be smart with how they go about it.
For some groups, it’s huge. It can make the difference between facing a football superpower and merely a strong team in the first knockout round.
Theoretically, there’s a motivation to win Group G, because the winner of Group G will face the second-place team from Group H, while the second-place team from Group G will face the winner of Group H.
But while Belgium leads Group H with two wins, and will probably win the group, they haven’t been very impressive at all, and on their current form i don’t think they’d get past Germany or the United States.
I think you just have to accept that these situations arise occasionally in group stage football, which is an unusual format really. Even in tournaments like the Champions League, the teams in a group play each other twice, so it’s less likely.
It’s just bad luck for Ghana that Germany and the US may be able to back off a bit. There’ll certainly be a lot of people watching this game very closely for anything that seems dodgy.