Germany and Portugal are expected to survive the group stage with relative ease, as both of these teams are among the favorites to lift the trophy. This makes it particularly difficult for United States and Ghana, teams that share Group G with the European superpowers. All they can hope for is to collect three points from the direct match, while scrapping a point in one of the games played against the group favorites.
Group stage and event prospects
The Americans have changed a lot in their starting formation and only a handful of those players who participated in the World Cup 2010 will play this summer. Jurgen Klinsmann was chosen to lead team USA at this edition of the final tournament and he had a hard time choosing the first 11. He needed to make a decision about what veterans to keep and the end result is an eclectic mix of youngsters and experienced players, which makes this national team highly unpredictable.
Bet365 is not particularly optimistic about their chances to finish second in this group, but they are still given odds of 3.60 to make it through, slightly better than Ghana. Winning the group is out of the question and an equally unlikely result is for the United States to win the trophy. The same bookmaker is willing to increase the investment of anyone taking these risks by 201 times, yet it is unlikely to have many punters willing to gamble in this manner.
Key players for United States at the World Cup
The last time the United States achieved anything worth mentioning at the World Cup was back in 1930, when they finished third but since then things took a turn for the worse. They have a snowflake's chance in hell to outshine Portugal and Germany in the head to head game, which means that three points should be collected against Ghana. Klinsmann is ready to defend against his country and has a pretty good idea about how to handle the game with Portugal, but will need to take chances against the Africans.
The players chosen by him to feature in the starting formation are those expected by the fans back home, with Altidore as striker. He's experienced enough to take a jab at the German and Portuguese defenses, but if left alone he is unlikely to succeed. One of the players that he's expected to rely on throughout the group stage is Landon Donovan, a midfielder that feels comfortable playing offensive roles.
Against the Europeans, Klinsmann will probably keep him in the midfield but he will push him further when United States faces Ghana. Interesting enough, Donovan is credited with the first chance to be the top scorer in Brazil of all-American players, albeit the odds are 201 to 1 for this to happen.
Another player worth monitoring at the World Cup 2014 is Dempsey, although he's expected to play a more defensive role and support the back line when necessary. The same goes for Michael Bradley who needs to act as a fireman on the pitch and constantly shift between the defense and the one or two strikers.
The bottom line
A strong defensive display against Germany and Portugal might result in the US scrapping one point and they have a decent chance at beating Ghana. The odds for the Americans to survive the group stage are just enough to warrant a medium stake bet, but more ambitious wagers are absolutely pointless.
