John Kidde Writes

I believe I can speak for most, if not all, USA Soccer fans when I say that I have a strong disliking of the Ghanaian Men’s National Soccer Team. This all dates back to 2006 in Germany where they beat the USA 2-1 in the final game of the group stage to eliminate them from the tournament. Jump ahead to 2010 where the USA had won its group for the first time ever only to come up against Ghana in the Round of 16 and lose, again 2-1 in extra time.

2014 would not be the same. At least, we all hoped.

Usually in a World Cup history repeats itself (France beats Brazil, England loses on penalties etc) so the thought of losing to Ghana again just really made me sick.

Thank God for John Brooks.

I was dressed to the 9’s in my USA gear: sunglasses, bandana, flag, jersey, and American flag socks in for my first World Cup game and it was beautiful. The result and the stadium. I cannot begin to describe my emotions during that game. Utter shock and jubilation after Clint Dempsey scored within the first 30 seconds, feeling devastated by the equalizing goal by Ghana which really was a great goal (technically speaking) and then madness and tears of joy after John Brooks heads the ball into the back of the net off a Graham Zusi ball delivered from the corner. I cried a bit and then hugged every single USA fan in my row and screamed until my lungs got sore.

I really don’t know what else to say about this game so I will just end it with a few photos from my experience.