Brooks of the U.S. celebrates after scoring a goal against Ghana during their 2014 World Cup Group G soccer match at the Dunas arena in Natal
John Brooks of the U.S. celebrates after scoring a goal against Ghana during their 2014 World Cup Group G soccer match at the Dunas arena in Natal June 16, 2014. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Final Score

U.S.A 2 Portugal 2

Overview

The thirtieth match of the FIFA World Cup 2014 is going to be held between U.S.A and Portugal. The Group G match should be interesting as Portugal needs to win to stay alive in the tournament. A loss here literally means an exit from the world cup for the team. U.S.A will want to win this and secure its place in the "group of 16," just like what it did in 2010.

Teams

U.S.A: The United States had an impressive performance in its match against Ghana. It was a dream debut for 21-year-old John Brooks who scored the winning goal and gave his team a strong chance of going to the next round. If the U.S. team manages to have even a draw against Portugal, it will go to the next round. German football icon Jurgen Klinsmann, who is now the U.S. coach, was very happy about his players' performance against Ghana. U.S.A could not have settled for anything less than 3 points to have a strong chance in a group which also features strong teams like Germany and Portugal.

Portugal: Portugal came to the tournament with lofty ambitions. It banked a lot on Cristiano Ronaldo but the opening match was poor for the star player of the team. If rumours are to be believed, Ronaldo may have been ruled out of the rest of the tournament due to injury. If that's true, Portugal's chances of going to the next round have become even slimmer as Pepe is also not playing the match due to a red card in the previous match. Defender Fabio Coentrao is also out of the world cup due to injury. It will have to forget its 4-0 defeat against Germany anyway and try to gather 3 points against the United States. That will keep its hopes alive. A draw may not be enough as the goal difference is -4 at the moment.

Head to Head

These two teams played 5 times against each other before. U.S.A won 2, Portugal 2 and 1 ended in a draw. There were 10 goals scored, 5 each by U.S.A and Portugal.

Key Players

U.S.A: Clint Dempsey and John Brooks

Portugal: William Carvalho & Cristiano Ronaldo (if available)

Date, Time & Venue

Brazil's time zone is UTC/GMT -3. The match starts at 6 pm (local time) on June 22, which means it is 8 am on June 23 in New South Wales, Australia. The match will be held at Arena Amazonia in Manaus.

Prediction

Portugal will not be able bring in its best team on the field due to injury and booking. U.S.A, on the other hand, will take this opportunity to seal its berth in the next round. The final score line will be 3-1 in favour of the United States.

Group Predictions

Group A, Group B, Group C, Group D, Group E, Group F, Group G & Group H

Reference: FIFA

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au