Cristiano Ronaldo has looked nowhere near full fitness in either of Portugal’s first two games. His last minute pass against the United States on Sunday was just enough though to salvage Portugal’s World Cup hopes. Ghana and Portugal will face each other at the Estadio Nacional in Brasilia on Thursday, with both of their World Cup futures riding on what is going on 1,2000 miles away in Recife as the US face Germany. If Portugal and Ghana want to have any chance of making it into the knockout rounds, they will both need to walk away with a win, and a prayer that the two teams in Recife don’t battle it out for a tie.
After losing their opening game in a heartbreaking manner to the US, Ghana came back and showed the world why they are considered Africa’s best team, tying the Germans 2-2. Andre Ayew has by far been their best player, not only scoring goals but creating opportunities for his teammates as well. Ghana has to be one of the most underrated teams in the world, as they continuously prove themselves against top-level opposition. Going forward they look as dangerous if not more dangerous than the likes of Argentina, Holland and Belgium to name a few. James Appiah, the Ghanaian coach earlier this week stated, “I always believe that the best way to defend is to attack.” And attack they will, it will just come down to whether or not they will be able to take their chances.
"We're probably just an average team. I'd be lying if I said we were a top team." Those were the words of Cristiano Ronaldo as he was asked about Portugal’s first two performances. A Selecção as they are called back home have been underwhelming thus far and should consider themselves lucky to still have a chance at advancing (It will be tough even if they do win considering their goal differential sits at -4). There has really been nothing about this team that has impressed. They were beaten 4-0 by Germany and then gifted a goal by American defender Geoff Cameron. It is a mighty big task for the Portuguese, but they do have the world’s second best player in Ronaldo (you know who’s the best). He will have to pull some type of magic out of his hat if he wants to help this disappointing Portugal have a chance at survival.
The game is set to kick off at 12PM EST and can be seen on ESPN2 and Univision. For those of you who will be at work and won’t be able to get to a TV, WatchESPN will be streaming all live games directly from here and if you prefer to live stream the game in Spanish, you can enjoy that broadcast here. Enjoy the final Group G showdown as it will surely be nail biting up until the end.
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