Some Thoughts On The World Cup Draw

The United States got a tough draw this morning. A draw that not even the Brazillian model who was helping draw teams for this summer's World Cup could make feel all that much better.

Here's the gist. The United States finds itself in a group with Germany and Portugal, as well as its own personal bogey man in Ghana. I really don't need to give you the bonafides of Germany and Portugal. The Germans have always been a soccer machine, which is the reason the United States hired a German to lead their team in the first place. At the moment Germany probably can call itself home to the best domestic league in the world with the Bundesliga.

Then there's Portugal which can make a legitimate claim that it has the best player in the world on its team in Ronaldo. That sure as shit isn't going to be easy.

And then there's Ghana. I understand the feat of Ghana considering the struggles the United States has had with it in the past, but let's be real here. The USMNT is a much better team now than it was in 2010, and compared to Portugal and Germany, Ghana is the least of our worries.

Those are three points we simply must have, which I guess is what makes that match to open the World Cup even scarier than it really should be.

But this isn't nearly as impossible as a lot of the reactions seem to be treating it. Sure, things could have been a lot better. I'd have loved to have been in a Group C or Group E or even Group H. But at the same time I'd rather be in Group G than in Group B with Spain and the Netherlands, or Group D with Uruguay, Italy and England.

Of course, I say all this as somebody who has two teams in this tournament. All that really mattered to me was that the USMNT didn't end up in the same group as Italy because that would have been difficult for me. It's a hell of a dilemma. Obviously I'd be rooting for my home country over Italy in the match, but at the same time, Italy has a much better shot of winning the whole damn thing than my home country does.

Thankfully now if the two meet it'll be in the knockout stage, and that's not a bad problem to have.

Anyway, I'm getting off track here. My overall point is that I'm not going to act as though the sky is falling because we got a tough draw. It's not going to be easy, but it's not impossible, either.

This is America we're talking about here, damn it. Let's act like it.

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