USMNT prepares to face old foe in Ghana

But all is not lost for the USMNT. It has one more chance to seize a statement-making international win before its players return to their club teams this weekend — and the opponent in question couldn't be more historic.

On Tuesday, the USMNT will take on Ghana, one of its biggest and fiercest rivals on the international circuit. New fans might be surprised to hear about the tension between these faraway nations, but make no mistake: when it comes to soccer, the United States and Ghana have been duking it out for years.

The first meeting came in 2006, during the group stages of the World Cup. Ghana hammered an underperforming USMNT to seal its elimination from the tournament. Four years later in 2010, the two sides met at the World Cup — this time in the Round of 16. Ghana won again, clinching a 2-1 victory in the 93rd minute of play to break American hearts.

When the 2014 World Cup rolled around, American fans groaned when Ghana was once again drawn into the same group as the USMNT. Few gave the USMNT a fighting chance; after all, Ghana had knocked it out of the last two World Cups in a row. 

But the USMNT, led by fiery forward Clint Dempsey, wasn't interested in going down a third time. It beat Ghana, 2-1, kicking off its World Cup in style, and came back to defeat the Ghanaians again during a friendly in 2017. The two teams are now level in head-to-head statistics; the winner of Tuesday's match will take control of the rivalry for the next few years.

Ghana is particularly strong in midfield; regular viewers of the Premier League will recognize Arsenal's Thomas Partey and West Ham United's Mohammed Kudus. But while Ghana excels and holding and passing the ball, it hasn't been converting chances into goals — it lost 2-0 to Mexico a few days ago and faltered in African Cup of Nations qualification games against Angola and Madagascar. If Ghana wishes to beat the USMNT, it must regain its attacking edge and focus on getting the ball in the net.

The USMNT, meanwhile, hasn't had any problems scoring — it's netted eight goals in its three most recent games. But while it kept clean sheets against opponents like Oman and Uzbekistan, it conceded three silly goals to Germany, largely because of mix-ups between defenders Sergiño Dest, Chris Richards and Tim Ream. Dest, Richards and Ream will have to improve their communication quickly if they wish to finally put the USMNT on the winning side of its Ghana rivalry.

The USMNT and Ghana will play in Nashville, Tenn. on Tuesday.