A combination photo shows Germany's Miroslav Klose executing a sommersault as he celebrates scoring a goal against Ghana during their 2014 World Cup Group G soccer match at the Castelao arena in Fortaleza
A combination photo shows Germany's Miroslav Klose executing a sommersault as he celebrates scoring a goal against Ghana during their 2014 World Cup Group G soccer match at the Castelao arena in Fortaleza June 21, 2014. REUTERS/Mike Blake

Final Score

U.S.A 0 Germany 1

Overview

The forty fifth match of the FIFA World Cup 2014 is going to be held between the U.S.A and Germany. The Group G match should be quite an interesting contest between the two as this will be U.S.A's golden chance to try for a berth in the "group of 16." Germany, on the other hand, may proceed to the next round even if it loses.

Teams

U.S.A: It was a last minute shock for the United States when a stunning cross by Cristiano Ronaldo helped Silvestre Varela score for Portugal and equalise at the 95th minute. It rekindled Portugal's hope to go to the next round. At the same time, it prevented the United States from celebrating its entry to the "round of 16." There is still hope for the U.S.A but now it comes with several speculations and calculations. If Ghana wins against Portugal with at least 2-goal margin and the U.S.A loses against Germany, no matter how slim the margin is, the Americans will be eliminated. If both teams have the same goal difference, the team which has scored more goals will go ahead. At the moment, the U.S.A has scored 4 goals and Ghana 3.

Germany: When Germany started its tournament, it was Portugal which faced its prowess. Its convincing 4-0 victory showed how much capable it can be in terms of goal scoring. Germany scored 60 goals in its last 21 matches. That means it scored almost 3 goals on an average in every match. The German team looked invincible. However, Ghana showed that Germany could be vulnerable. The Ghana-Germany match was spectacular. It ended in a 2-2 draw. Germany which looked so strong is yet to qualify. In fact, Group G is the only team in the tournament so far without any team which has qualified to the next round. Elimination from the group stages looks improbable for Germany but it is still possible.

Head to Head

These two teams played 9 times against each other before. Germany won 6 and the U.S.A 3. There were 36 goals scored. Germany scored 21 and the U.S. team 15.

Key Players

United States: Jermaine Jones and DaMarcus Beasley

Germany: Thomas Müller and Miroslav Klose (even if he plays for 5 minutes)

Date, Time & Venue

Brazil's time zone is UTC/GMT -3. The match starts at 1 pm (local time) on June 26, which means it is 2 am on June 27 in New South Wales, Australia. The match will be held at Arena Pernambuco in Recife.

Prediction

Germany will score several times and the United States will fall short of German excellence. Germany will win 3-1.

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