Win or Go Home, Yankees.

OK- I realize I have not done justice to the World Cup. Some of you are mad at me, and some of you are thrilled. Either way, we are almost done with group play. One game left for the Americans, but it is Win time for them (0-1-1) against African Giant Ghana. 9am on ESPN Thursday Morning, so don’t expect to see me in early, Tom…

US Must Beat the Black Stars …

In order to qualify for the second round, the U.S. must defeat Ghana, and hope that the Italians defeat the Czechs. Any other result in the Italy-Czech match will see goal difference come into play, which would require the Yanks to defeat Ghana by a big enough margin to make up for their earlier, heavy loss to the Czechs. With a loss or a tie, the U.S. will head home, confirming the suspicion that their quarterfinal run in 2002 was a one-off that does not signal America's impending ascension.

Of course, such thinking ignores the fact that the Americans are in perhaps the most difficult group in this World Cup. While much attention has been placed on Group C, which contains Argentina, Holland, Serbia and Montenegro, and Ivory Coast, the fact is that the Americans' group has turned out to be much more competitive. Heading into the last round of games, not one team in Group E has clinched a spot in the second round, nor has a team been eliminated. No other group can make such a claim.

But head coach Bruce Arena isn't concerning himself with such trivia. His task is simple: Win the game. And that means having the U.S. come out with the same attitude they displayed against Italy.

Football world amused by US …

Time Magazine breaks down the game …

Roman Abramovitch, the George Steinbrenner-like owner of the big London soccer team Chelsea, so prized Ghana's exquisite midfielder Michael Essien that he splashed out 36 million pounds to pry the man loose from the French league champions, Lyon. Essien was worth the money, his presence on the pitch helping Chelsea to the Premiere League championship.

Let's see, converting to dollars at approximately $1.896 to the pound, he'd be worth exactly — well, more than the entire American team. And that's no knock on the U.S. players. Their star power is not the high-wattage variety, but as they proved against Italy last Saturday, when you combine all your team's skills with maximum effort, the result can often defy the betting line. That was the case in their scintillating 1-1 draw with Italy in Kaiserslautern, in which the Americans finished with 9 men on the field, (that would be 2 less than they started with, if you're keeping score) after Pablo Mastroeni and Eddie Pope were thrown out of the game for rough tackles. The Americans were thus forced to play a man short — Italy's Daniele DeRossi got the gate earlier for trying to rearrange Brian McBride's face with his elbow. McBride looked like a hockey player who took a stick in the mush, but he soldiered on as the U.S. played desperately to preserve the precious point that kept their hopes alive.

Controlled desperation is what it will take again on Thursday when the Americans play Ghana, the class team among the African entrants. It's very simple for the Yanks — if they don't win, they don't advance. And even if they do win, they'll need help from the Italy, who must beat Czech Republic. "We're alive, we know what we have to do, and there's no hiding the fact that we need to win," says U.S. coach Bruce Arena.

USA, USA, USA