By MICHELLE KAUFMAN mkaufman@MiamiHerald.com How's this for a crazy thought: The United States in the World Cup semifinals. Stop laughing. It's not as far-fetched as you think. The spunky U.S. team managed to win Group C with Landon Donovan's dramatic stoppage-time goal Wednesday night, which means instead of facing Germany in the Round of 16, it gets Ghana on Saturday. Not to knock Ghana, a team that managed to advance without injured star player Michael Essien. Ghana is the lone African team standing, so surely the entire continent will be rooting for it. But a victory over Ghana seems more likely than a victory over Germany, right? The Americans will have extra motivation because Ghana knocked them out of the 2006 World Cup. ``That was not a good day for me or for the team, and what I remember most personally was my tentativeness and the immediate feeling afterward of the finality of it and how disappointing that was,'' Donovan said. ``I've already put it behind me, but this is a chance to do something very special.'' FAVORABLE DRAW Although the U.S. team was the victim of a questionable disallowed goal in each of the past two games, luck was on its side when the draw was announced. If the Americans get past Ghana, their quarterfinal will be against the winner of a match between Uruguay and South Korea. Again, both teams are playing very well, but neither is as daunting as Argentina, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain. Notice I left England out of that list of heavyweights, because Wayne Rooney and his boys just haven't looked that impressive. And defending champion Italy is missing because it crashed out in the first round Thursday, finishing last in its group, behind New Zealand. Uruguay was the surprise winner of Group A with a 1-0 victory over Mexico, a 3-0 victory over South Africa and a 0-0 tie against France. South Korea has never defeated a South American team at the World Cup in four tries. ``Two more wins would be great for us, but why not four more?'' said U.S. forward Jozy Altidore of Boca Raton. ``Anything is possible. We are in it to win it.'' Donovan agreed. He spent Thursday doing interviews with Fox and Friends, MSNBC, the CBS Early Show and CNN, and then met with the media at team headquarters. ``It's not a failure if we don't win Saturday, but we have a great opportunity to accomplish something special,'' Donovan said. ``We feel like we can beat any team in the world. All we know now is that Ghana is next. I can't emphasize enough how big this opportunity is and how we need to take advantage of it.'' Everyone in the U.S. camp is well aware of the buzz back home, and they want to capitalize on it. Goalkeeper Tim Howard said he was floored when he saw New York Mets third baseman David Wright on TV wearing a U.S. team jersey. ``I guess he went out and bought a Landon Donovan jersey a couple of weeks back, and he wore it yesterday,'' Howard said. ``That's pretty cool, when you see guys like that in other sports, high-level athletes who you respect, getting involved and enjoying our team and our success.'' TV ratings have been higher than ever. The opening 1-1 tie with England had an audience of 13 million. The controversial 2-2 tie against Slovenia drew 5.2 million viewers, the most for an ESPN soccer telecast. And Wednesday's 1-0 thriller over Algeria was viewed by 4.8 million people. The Saturday match against Ghana is at 2:30 p.m., so networks are expecting huge numbers. Sunil Gulati, the president of U.S. Soccer, is walking on clouds this week. He said he received 300 congratulatory e-mails after the Algeria game, including one from director Spike Lee. Altidore found 134 e-mails on his phone after the match. Former President Bill Clinton celebrated with the team in the locker room. BENEFITS OF WINNING Gulati's goal is to make soccer ``water-cooler talk,'' and this World Cup is helping. He said the U.S. team could use another victory to stay in the conversation and make headlines back home. ``Wins like this help the game; how can they not?'' Gulati said. ``The longer we stay here, the more people get to know our team, which can only help the game back home, and Major League Soccer.'' OK, so it seems far-fetched for the United States to reach the semifinals, considering the team's pedigree -- ousted in the first round 1998, reaching the quarterfinals in 2002 and getting ousted in the first round in 2006. But this is a special team, a resilient team that leaves it all on the field, every ounce of heart and energy. The Americans used that spirit to tie mighty England. They used that spirit to get over the crushing 2-2 tie against Slovenia. And they certainly showed grit and determination to score in the waning minutes against Algeria on Wednesday. US in the semis? Why not? Credit: www.miamiherald.com