Landon Donovan’s stoppage-time goal did more for the United States than stave off elimination from the World Cup and ignite celebrations across the nation. It also put the Americans on a potential path to the semifinals free of a confrontation with soccer’s traditional powers. Their cardiac 1-0 victory over Algeria on Wednesday gave the Americans first place in Group C, and because of that they are in an attractive spot in the tournament’s bracket. They will face Ghana in the Round of 16 on Saturday, and should they win, they will go on to face the winner of the Uruguay-South Korea match in the quarterfinals. While Ghana, Uruguay and South Korea are all difficult to beat — if anything, this World Cup has shown that any team, no matter how modest its reputation, can defeat any other — none of them are considered giants of the game. Of course, neither is the United States. But the benefits it reaps for winning its group are appreciable. Had the Americans finished second in Group C, their path would have looked more difficult. Their opponent in the Round of 16 would have been Germany. And had the Americans somehow survived that matchup, they would probably have had to face Argentina in the quarterfinals Instead, that is the task now confronting England. The Americans have not won two straight matches at a World Cup since 1930. But if they beat Ghana, and then win a third straight game over either Uruguay or South Korea, they will finally run up against a soccer superpower in the semifinals, most likely Brazil. Should that happen, the Americans will be happy, anyway, since few would have suspected they would get that far in the first place. But before the Americans can think about quarterfinal and semifinal matches they have to beat Ghana — the team that eliminated them in the 2006 World Cup. In that tournament, the Americans needed a victory over Ghana in the final-group match to advance, but they were beaten, 2-1. The critical moment of the match came in stoppage time just before the end of the first half, with the score tied, 1-1. The American defender Oguchi Onyewu headed the ball away from Razak Pimpong while taking care to keep his hands off the Ghana forward. But Pimpong dived, the German referee, Markus Merk, was fooled, and Stephen Appiah converted the subsequent penalty kick to give the Black Stars a lead they never relinquished. The Ghanaians, almost all seasoned professionals in top European leagues, continued to take advantage of Merk’s officiating for the rest of the match. The Daily Mail in London noted of Ghana, “Their diving and feigning injury put a total of 9 minutes’ stoppage time onto the regulation 90 and took much of the gloss off what they have achieved here in their first World Cup finals.” This year’s World Cup may be different. The overall quality of the officiating appears better than in 2006 (there are, of course, exceptions, such as the controversy generated by Koman Coulibaly, who disallowed an American goal against Slovenia), and there appears to be less diving and fakery. Meanwhile, Ghana still has nine players who were on the team in 2006, including Appiah, goalkeeper Richard Kingson and striker Asamoah Gyan. They are missing their playmaking star, Michael Essien of Chelsea, however. Essien is out with a knee injury, and Ghana’s attack is not as potent as it was with him in the lineup. Gyan, who is only 24 and is nicknamed Baby Jet, has scored three of Ghana’s six goals in the 2006 and 2010 World Cups. He has scored both of Ghana’s goals this year, each on penalty kicks: in a 1-0 win over Serbia and a 1-1 draw with Australia. In 2006, he struck on a left-footed rocket shot just 68 seconds into a 2-0 victory over the Czech Republic. Gyan plays for Rennes in the French Ligue 1 but has drawn the interest of West Ham in the English Premier League. The task of shutting him down Saturday falls to an American defense that has been reconstituted by Coach Bob Bradley. In the Algeria game, he removed Onyewu from the central defense, slid the captain Carlos Bocanegra into his place and put Jonathan Bornstein on the outside of the back line to deal with Algeria’s speedy attackers. Despite trepidation from some American fans over Bornstein’s past errors, he and the rest of the defense performed well, sending home another one of the tournament’s six African teams. But Ghana — the last remaining African team, unless Ivory Coast cashes in on its extremely slim chances for advancement in Friday’s games — presents a tougher problem than Algeria. The Black Stars reached the final of the African Cup of Nations before losing to Egypt last January (the match was refereed by Coulibaly), and they have the institutional memory of beating the United States four years ago. Still, their Serbian coach, Milovan Rajevac, said his players would have to ramp up their attack in Saturday’s game. “U.S.A. is a good side with a lot of quality players, and we cannot afford to blow away chances,” he said. Rajevac’s concern is probably well founded. The United States finished first in its group and Ghana second, leaving the Americans in a highly unusual position: they are favored to win. And if they do, they will advance in a bracket that is not as imposing as it might have been. Source: New York Times