Swings and roundabouts, isn’t it? The United States benefited from an early goal against Ghana, but this time around they conceded one, albeit not quite so soon. Nani pounced on a mistake by Geoff Cameron to rifle past Tim Howard, who was simultaneously left stranded and should have done better – one on one with Nani but sitting down to make it easy for him. The Portuguese had snatched a lead before the game settled into any sort of rhythm. Paul Bento continued with the 4-3-3 from the Germany match, only making changes he was forced into: Andre Almeida and Helder Postiga for the injured Fabio Coentrao and Hugo Almeida, and Ricardo Costa for the suspended Pepe. Due to the injury to Jozy Altidore, Jurgen Klinsmann changed to a 4-2-3-1, bringing in Graham Zusi on the right in the Sunderland striker’s place. Despite its fortuitous nature, Portugal looked good value for their lead early on though. Typically when a 4-3-3 goes against a 4-2-3-1 each midfielder has a individual battle with their direct opponent, yet here the Portuguese avoided this. Their midfield sat deeper and narrowed the American attacking midfield band, Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani drifted inside and the full-backs […]
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