Day in 100 words or less Its an evening in a remote American town. Monday night. Primetime. Time for dinner. Check Twitter. Wow, the US soccer team just scored a goal in the first few seconds in the World Cup! Wheres the remote? Wow, they cant keep the ball. Its a long game defending, struggling to keep hold of the ball. Can they hold on? No. A deserved equalizer smashed home by the old nemesis. What now? A draw? Can they hold on? Oh, they have a corner. That guy taking it has good hair. Whoa, what a cross! Oh my... Ghana 1 - 2 United States - When Landon Donovan slid into the corner flag in South Africa it was a huge needle-mover in the United States. It happened in late morning Eastern time. John Brooks, who 99.9 per cent of the country had never heard of before 7:45pm Eastern time on Monday evening just moved that needle again. Yes, thousands of soccer fans in the country partied and went wild, but this was a moment that captured the non-soccer fan. Again. It was a monumental moment for US Soccer. - Jurgen Klinsmanns men may still be eliminated at the group stage in Brazil, but they already have that crucial moment. - It should be noted that Slovenia were the only team in South Africa to be eliminated at the group stages after winning their opening game, but if USA play anything like this against Portugal and Germany in the next 10 days, then they will be joining them. - The Americans really struggled to keep the ball. They defended deep after Clint Dempseys goal on 32 seconds, then lost Jozy Altidore and Matt Besler to leg injuries before the second half even started. Ghana pressed well in midfield and dominate in wide areas, but their crosses in the final third were pathetic. Not one good cross into the six yard box. - There remains a chance that three teams can get six points in this group. If Portugal beats USA next and Germany beats Ghana, would you rule out USA narrowly beating Germany in the last games to eliminate Portugal on goal difference? Germany 4 - Portugal 0 - Germany were thought to be rusty, hit by key injuries and potentially vulnerable. Forced into a back four of centre-backs, Bastian Schweinsteiger fit only for the bench and no Marco Reus. No problem. - When a team is this tactically intelligent, it is an absolute joy to watch a team play with a "false nine." With an organized, narrow back four (made up of four centre-backs) and two excellent central midfielders in Philipp Lahm and Sami Khedira, the front four of Germany were magnificent with their movement. - Much like against England four years ago, Germany were happy to overload in wide areas. It is one thing to overload, but it is quite another to have the skill, cohesion and understanding of movement to turn it into a strength. - The important thing here is to watch the positioning of the opposing back four. My colleague, and proud member of the centre-backs union Jason De Vos, always says you dont want to get dragged outside the width of the 18-yard box. Not only are Germany masters at doing that, but they drag the other centre-back on the outside of it as well! - Cast your mind back to World Cup 2010 and the last 16 game when Germany beat England 4-1. On the second goal, their buildup play led to Englands back four looking like a shambles. - False nine or no false nine, it is about movement. That is Miroslav Klose, as a striker, on the touchline. He receives the ball and sends Thomas Mueller into space and the German on the far left, Lukas Podolski, scores the goal. - Fast forward to the opening goal of Mondays match. It is brilliant movement from Germany to create the opening that led to Joao Pereira fouling Mario Gotze in the box. - Initially, Portugal look more than organized to deal with the threat with as many as eight players active and alert to an attack. The two centre-backs are occupied - Pepe by Gotze and on the far side Bruno Alves on Sami Khedira. - Then, Germany creates another bit of magic on the flank and the key move is from deep as Mesut Ozil finds space, crucially, dragging Pepe further over allowing Gotze with more than enough room away from Pereira... - Thats why, on the tactical view, Portugal look like a defensive shambles with their back four, similar to England four years ago. - The biggest story of the game came in the 36th minute when Pepe stupidly let his team down by reacting angrily to a flop by Muller. The Real Madrid man took exception to Mullers antics and his headbutt was idiotic. - All in all, it was pretty much the worst possible day for Portugal who need to work on getting service to Cristiano Ronaldo. Expect the magician Joao Moutinho to get far more involved in their next two matches. Iran 0 - 0 Nigeria - The 13th game of the tournament proved to be unlucky as two very average sides played out a game that wouldnt have looked out of place in the third tier of English football. - At least the atmosphere looked good. - Massive missed opportunity for Nigeria who now will have to beat Bosnia-Herzegovina to get to the last 16. Man of the Day: Nominees: - Philipp Lahm – He moved into midfield and was equally as brilliant for Germany than he was for Bayern Munich this past season. - Sami Khedira – Some were worried if he would be 100 per cent as he fights back from a long-term injury, but the midfielder, alongside Lahm, was magnificent. - Thomas Muller – Mr. Golden Boot now has as many goals at World Cups as Diego Maradona. - John Brooks – Move over, Garth. America has a new Brooks. - Clint Dempsey – It was a perfect start for the Americans as the Seattle man breezed into the box and ignited their World Cup campaign. And the winner is... Thomas Muller – His goals were brilliant, showing all of his strengths. He wanted the penalty and told Ozil so right before it and then bullied his way to the ball on the other two. At 24, he could still have two more World Cups to come. What comes next? - Belgium vs. Algeria (12pm et/9am pt) - Brazil vs. Mexico (3pm et/12pm pt) - Russia vs. Korea Republic (6pm et /3pm et) Burning question for tomorrow: Can Brazil find another gear in what is likely their last real competitive test before the knockout stages? Key stat for Day 5: We have now had 11 headed goals already at the World Cup. Discount Air Max 90 .com) - Robert Upshaw made a putback jumper to put 17th-ranked Washington ahead with 1:27 remaining in the game and the Huskies held on to beat Eastern Washington 81-77 on Sunday. Fake Off White Air Max 90 . Thats how the Ravens won when Ryan was their defensive co-ordinator from 2005-08, and that is precisely the formula Baltimore used to beat Ryans New York Jets on Sunday. http://www.outletairmax90cheap.com/outle...onze-cheap.html. The Boston Celtics hadnt played since the All-Star break. So the Suns 100-94 victory over Boston Wednesday night was an uphill affair, with Phoenix relying on balance rather than its trademark high energy. Off White x Air Max 90 All Black .5 million. University officials released the term sheet signed by Harsin Wednesday, the day the former Broncos walk-on player and Boise native was named the successor to Chris Petersen, who left for Washington last week. Fake Air Max 90 Mens . Sijsling, ranked 74th in the world, was leading 6-0, 4-1 when his Italian opponent called it quits after just 39 minutes on court. In a match pitting together two qualifiers, Michal Przysiezny of Poland defeated local favourite Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (4) for only his second Tour win of the season. NASHVILLE -- David Desharnais enjoys playing in high-pressure situations, and showed how much Saturday night. Desharnais scored at 1:43 of overtime to give the Montreal Canadiens a 4-3 victory over the Nashville Predators. Desharnais stripped the puck from defenceman Mattias Ekholm along the left boards, skated to the left faceoff dot and put a slap shot over goalie Carter Huttons left shoulder. "I like playing those overtimes, those shootouts, I want to make the difference," Desharnais said. "I knew he was going to try to hold that puck there, so I just beat him to the puck and took a shot." P.K. Subban, Max Pacioretty and Tomas Plekanec also scored for Montreal. "The most important thing was for us to win the hockey game," Montreal coach Michel Therrien said. "What an effort from David Desharnais. It was a great effort to pursue the puck and stay in the play, and he took a perfect shot." Gabriel Bourque, Nick Spaling, and Shea Weber scored for Nashville. The Predators have lost three straight. The Predators lost rookie defenceman Seth Jones late in the first period. A shot from the left point by Montreal defenceman Andrei Markov hit traffic in front and struck Jones on the left side of his face, and he did not return to the game. Subban opened the scoring at 11:30 of the first period, taking the puck from the right point into the high slot and then beating goalie Marek Mazanec with a slap shot. It was the reigning Norris Trophy winners fifth goal of the season. Just under two minutes later, Pacioretty doubled the Montreal lead. Brendan Gallagher sent a pass from inside the Montreal blue line to Pacioretty in the neutral zone. He drove down the left side around defenceman Kevin Klein and beat Mazanec with a backhand. Plekanec made it 3-0 with 5:23 left in the period when he redirected a feed from Brian Gionta past Mazanec. That ended the night for Mazanec. Hutton, who started Nashvilles last fivve games, relieved him.dddddddddddd. Hutton was lifted from Nashvilles last game Thursday night in Tampa after allowing four goals on 14 shots. "I think this is a strong point in coming back," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "I look at the first period and we didnt play poorly. They executed on a couple of things, but we didnt get any saves. I mean three goals in five shots. Unfortunately, it wasnt Mazs night." Montreals three-goal outburst ended a stretch of eight games in which it failed to score in the opening period. Bourque got Nashville on the board at 11:51 of the second when he beat Carey Price with a wrist shot from the lower part of the right circle. With less than two minutes remaining in the period and Nashville on the power play, Spaling tipped home a pass by Shea Weber. Nashville carried the play in the second, outshooting Montreal 20-6 in the period. "It was a tough start for us, and weve talked about having good starts in this building," Weber said. "But we showed a lot of character tonight and did a lot of good things. Thats going to build some confidence." Weber tied it 3 with a power-play goal at 13:40 of the third. Just 8 seconds after Subban was sent off for tripping Matt Cullen, Mike Fisher found Weber on the left side, where he beat Price with a one-timer for his team-leading ninth goal. "You have a player like Webs out there making some pretty good plays," Price said. "That was a pretty top-notch slap pass to the back door guy and that was a great shot. And hes going to shoot a puck like that, you are going to score almost every time." Price made 31 saves for his 17th win of the season. NOTES: Entering Saturday, Nashville and Colorado were the only teams Price had failed to beat. ... Nashville C Colin Wilson returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch Thursday night in Tampa ... Montreal D Josh Georges missed the game because of a lower-body injury, ending his games streak at 167. ' ' '