Soccer News of Wednesday, 11 June 2014

Source: allsports.com.gh

Ghana look very good, but we can beat them - USA

The USA are confident of picking up all three points when they clash with Ghana in the upcoming World Cup in Brazil.

The Black Stars of Ghana thrashed South Korea 4-0 in a friendly on Monday night to head into the World Cup brimming with confidence, a game the US team monitored with keen eyes.

Speaking to ESPN from the US team camp on Tuesday, veteran midfielder Kyle Beckerman, one of the senior-most members of Jurgen Klinsmann's team, acknowledged that Ghana are a strong side.

"We watched them against Korea last night and they looked really good," the 32-year-old began. "Strong, fast...technically good. So it's going to take unbelievable effort from us and it's going to take our best [to beat them], but we're looking forward to that."

Beckerman said that though the US are concentrating on themselves, they had an eye on Ghana's weaknesses from the game which they are confident on exploiting.

"We're just concentrating on our form, but we'll also be trying to exploit what we saw last night. We had guys at the game; we had people watching on tv too. We'll see what they did good, see what they did bad and see where South Korea and other teams can get at them, and that's what we'll work on."

The Real Salt Lake captain admitted that the US would have to play above themselves to end their two-game World Cup losing streak against the Ghanaians.

"It's going to take a huge effort. We have to be together, we have to watch each other's backs, we have to be dangerous when we get the ball in the attacking third, we have to finish our chances. We have to keep them from being dangerous; Tim [Howard] will have to come up big. All the boxes have to be ticked really."

"We can do it," the dread-locked holding midfielder concluded confidently.

The US will lock horns with Group G opponents Ghana in Natal next Monday, June 16.