Top 10 Similarities Between USA-Ghana and England-Germany

The similarities between England’s devastating loss to Germany Sunday and the United States’s loss to Ghana on Saturday are remarkable.

Here are ten similarities:

1. Both games featured incredible goalkeeping performances. Neuer for Germany. Kingson for Ghana.
2. In both games, the winning team completely outplayed their opposition.
3. Both teams committed disastrous defensive mistakes.
4. Both Tim Howard and David James could have done better to prevent one of the goals scored by Ghana and Germany respectively.
5. In both the United States and England games, the opposition displayed much better technical and ball-handling skills.
6. Both the United States and England are at a crossroads regarding the future of their youth development systems.
7. Both coaches, Bob Bradley and Fabio Capello, made key tactical mistakes before each game. Bradley should have started Benny Feilhaber and Maurice Edu (and possibly Edson Buddle). Capello should have dropped Barry and Upson in favor of Joe Cole and Ledley King (and should have given Peter Crouch a chance).
8. Both England and the United States had to overcome horrible refereeing decisions. The United States suffered from the lousy calls in two first round games. England suffered a terrible call against Germany when Frank Lampard’s goal was disallowed. The big difference is that the United States recovered from the adversity. England didn’t.
9. Fans will call for both Bob Bradley and Fabio Capello to be fired. The sad fact is that neither decision would improve the situation for England or the United States. The soccer deficiencies of both countries ran far deeper than that.
10. Both countries are nowhere near winning a World Cup trophy in the next four to eight years.

Can you think of any more similarities between both games? If so, post them in the comments section below.