With two games in group play in the books, it has come down to a almost do or die situation for team USA, sort of. USA are in 2nd place in the group, tied with Germany on points, which is enough for USA to move on into the next round of the World Cup. They are 3 points ahead of Ghana and Portugal. The biggest challenge is yet to come on Thursday when USA plays Germany (12pm local start time).
There are many scenarios that can see USA either get eliminated or move on, but to make it easier, USA just can not lose to Germany. A tie would be enough to finish 2nd, a win would see them finish 1st. If USA loses, then they will need help, a Portugal vs Ghana tie would be enough to get USA through to the next round.
A USA lose and Ghana win, things will get interesting. If that happens, then the tie breakers would be goal differential first, goals scored would be 2nd, and head to head would be last tie breaker. With that said if USA loses 1-0 and Ghana wins 1-0, then USA still moves on because of the last tie breaker, head to head. If USA loses by multiple goals and Ghana wins, then USA are out. If USA loses 1-0 and Ghana wins by multiple goals, then USA are out and Ghana in due to the 2nd tie breaker, goal differential. Head hurting yet?
The only way Portugal can move on is if they beat Ghana 4-0 and USA loses, very unlikely. I am sure that I may be missing other scenarios but people are still hurting from the last second goal from Varela in that 2-2 tie, so I wont go further into greater detail. Just remember, don’t lose to Germany, but that is easier said then done.