U.S. Men’s Soccer Vs. Portugal: Who Will Advance To The World Cup?

Tonight the U.S. and Portugal men’s MLS soccer clubs will square off in an epic match-up to see who will advance to the next round of the World Cup 2014.

After Germany’s draw against Ghana, the U.S. men’s soccer team looks favorable to advance to the next round, This is considering the fact that Portugal is playing with an injured team, and a key player, Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the injured members. Germany put Portugal in their place with a 4-0 stomp down, but then struggled to advance past Ghana.

Clint Dempsey looks to be a key player for the U.S., standing strong against Ghana and firing off a game changing goal during their match. He, however, is playing with a busted nose, and Jozy Altidor is out of the match due to a hamstring injury. For Portugal, Cristiano Robaldo is the star, and as previously mentioned, he is injured. The two teams definitely have much to lose if they don’t prevail, so this match is certain to be an exciting one, to say the least.

These two clubs have met in the past five times total, with each team wining twice and the fifth game being a draw. However, the U.S. men’s team has not advanced past the second round since 1930, so they’ve got to overcome that history in order to advance. During a press conference yesterday, head coach for the U.S., Jurgen Klinnsman, was quoted as saying:

It’s a huge opportunity for us, and we will definitely go for it. It’s going to be a very dramatic group.

Since 1990, the U.S. soccer team has faced 14 different European rivals and only walked away victors one time-when they won against Portugal. Could this match up be history repeating itself? According to U.S. midfielder Michael Bradley, the Portuguese deserve respect:

It would be easy to look and say this is a good time to play [Portugal]. But the other side says, it’s a desperate team that is playing for their lives because they need a result. We have to respect that. We have to understand how much they’re going to put into it.

So it might be safe to say that this match up will definitely be a close one and this game could really go either way. Even so, each of the teams have some pretty potent weapons in Bradley and Dempsey for the U.S. and Ronaldo for Portugal. If the U.S. can keep Ronaldo from scoring, they might just make a sweep of this game.