Going, going ... Ghana: It's judgment at Nuremburg

Ghana doesn't even know if it has enough electricity in its country to power all the TV sets watching today's game. Seriously. We have computers, Blackberrys, etc.
Guilt trip, eh?

Let's begin with another Red Bull and a heaping plate of fufu (see below):

6:30 a.m.: Top of the pregame show, ESPN's Reece Davis uses the phrases, "The day is here -- judgment day for Bruce Arena and Team USA ..." and "one game to elevate one dream" and "four years of blood and sweat built for this moment." Who is he channeling, Brent Musburger?

6:31 a.m.: Dave O'Brien's voice over (over the U2 video) uses that phrase again, "One game changes everything."

6:32 a.m.: Davis asks Julie Foudy if knowing the Czech-Italy game matters simultanously: "On the field, you don't care about the other game ... only if it's tied at halftime and (talking about) goal differential."
In that case, we'll check over on ESPN2 for updates since Julie doesn't want to care.
If the Czechs and Italians wink and decide to tie, as Wynalda implies, the U.S. needs to beat Ghana 4-0. Sounds like a plan to us.

6:35 a.m.: Marcelo Balboa makes first camera appearance. His he wearing hair extenders? Or it just his Lindsay Lohan look of the day (mustache included)?

6:40 a.m.: A look at the US lineup: 5 defenders, 4 midfielders and one lone forward (Brian McBride). And you wonder how games end up nil-nil. Is the midfield wide enough for five dudes?

6:41 a.m.: Shelley Smith interviews Bruce Arena. It's a two-shot. Can't handle it this early in the AM. First question: Bruce, what's your lineup? Arena rattles it off. Kinda just like we saw in the graphic on the screen seconds earlier. Smith then kind of rushes him off, asking questions over his answers. Good to see her technique hasn't changed.

6:48 a.m.: Wynalda: "Landon Donovan, show up today. Please." Kind of like what Alexi Lalas says before every Galaxy game.

6:58 a.m.: The U.S. lineup again. And the U.S. fans are ready to party.

7 a.m.: Dave O'Brien's first innocuous comment of the day: British oddsmakers have made Ghana a 6-to-5 favorite. Promoting some gambling, are we? Where on ESPN.com can we get some action on that spread?

7:02 a.m.: First ominous graphic of the day comes down from the top of the screen: The U.S. is 0-8-1 in World Cup games in Europe and has been outscored 24-5.

7:05 a.m.: Ghana dude Essien gets a yellow card. Balboa is already griping about the refs.

7:06 a.m.: Here's a did you know: Ghana folk love to eat fufu balls. They're crushed up yams or plantains or casavas with black pepper and butter. We found a recipe that asks that you put the boiled yams in a food processor to remove the lumps, but don't puree it. I'm sure the Ghana housewives will take heed to that.
Here's the recipe from a famine relief organization (type in the words "fufu balls" into the search engine) if you're in the mood to cook, as well as donate a little pocket change to the cause. C'mon.

7:07 a.m. Another did you know: The Washington Post has a fantasy World Cup game going on, where you pick six players and a team's defense, and how they perform gets you points. It's stupid enough to try out. The guy leading seems to have created 352 different teams. Why not give it a shot.

7:08 a.m.: O'Brien mentions one of the guys out there plays in the MLS, but he doesn't get into what MLS stands for. Why not: He explained what the letters FIFA meant during the England contest the other day.

7:11 a.m.: Ghana has a guy named Pimpong. Pronounced (almost) like Ping-Pong. At least it is by O'Brien and Balboa.

7:17 a.m.: Breaking news scroll at the bottom of the screen: The Knicks have fired Larry Brown, and Isiah Thomas will take over as the head coach. Good to know the Knicks aren't taking away from the importance of this event with anything earthshaking.

7:18 a.m. Out of boredom, I flip on 97.5 FM, KLYY, the Futbol de Primera network coverage in Spanish, where Andres Cantor works these days. When Ghana scores, I want to hear that classic "Goooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaalll" call. And I have no idea if Andres is even doing this game. Lot of mention of "la pelota," so I'm good.

7:23 a.m. Haminu Draman of Ghana scores and -- no doubt about it -- it's the Cantor call is in full effect. The dog next door starts barking. I crank the volume up more. The family cat runs under the bed. My friend across the street comes out to water his lawn, but mostly to look at my front window to see if anyone needs to call "911."

7:24 a.m.: Claudio Reyna is dragged off on a stretcher after Draman showed up him just before scoring.

7:25 a.m.: ESPN graphic: Teams scoring first in this World Cup have a 25-5-5 record.

7:26 a.m.: The Ghana goalie is laying on the ground. Now's the time for the U.S. guys to start shooting at the net. Instead, they stop to see if he's hurt.

7:27 a.m.: Update: Italy leads the Czech Republic, 1-0.

7:36 a.m. ESPN graphic: Landon Donovan has not scored in his last 17 national games. How many Galaxy games can we throw in there, too?

7:40 a.m. So I'm at the Dodger game last night, and someone in the press box mentions that Miss July , in the current issue of Playboy (which I don't subscribe to and only read for the sports-related stories) looks an awful lot like Lindsay Soto, the Fox Sports Net reporter.

Here's Miss July, Sara Jean Underwood:

Here's one of Lindsay from the Daily News archives, from the story we did on her in early 2005:

Nope, don't see it. Lindsay doesn't have braids.
Probably gotta go out and pick up the issue in question.
(Pause to rummage through my stack of magazines under the desk).
Oh, here it is.
Hmmmm.
It also says here that Miss Underwear -- uh, Underwood -- is a former "Girl of the Pac-10," from Oregon State back in 2005. Soto, a respected journalist, would never stoop to such nonsense, even though she attended USC.

7:43 a.m.: U.S. scores!!! 43rd minute. Finally. Cantor screams. Clint Dempsey does a dance. It's a 1-1 tie. There's an actual live cutaway to Columbus Crew Stadium in Ohio.

7:48 a.m.: Ghana scores on a penalty kick. Someone named Appiah. Cantor's call has now frightened the squirrels that run across the backyard looking for stray nuts. Ghana leads 2-1. Where's Dempsey's dance now?

7:50 a.m.: Halftime. Red Bull that came in, time to go out.

7:55 a.m.: Rewind the TiVo, needing to hear Dave O'Brien's U.S. goal call. Here it is:
"DeMarcus Beasley gets it back, plays it in, across to Dempsey, he did it! This one is tied! (Long crowd noise).
"Well, they're excited in Columbus. They're excited in Manhattan, and Los Angeles and Chicago and Boston!"
Another dog yelps outside the window. He couldn't let the crowd keep cheering?

8:04 a.m. Start of the second half. Intrepet reporter Shelly Smith relays info to the booth that there'll be a quick decision about Eddie Johnson entering the game for a scoring boost. You think? Balboa: "I might have started him. You need goals."

8:07 a.m.: ESPN graphic, again to get the U.S. viewers to stay around through the second half: "United State is 0-14-2 when trailing in World Cup games." Not just at halftime. But trailing at any point.
O'Brien then says the U.S. is 0-13-1 when trailing. Of course, he's reading a note that was in effect before this tournament, not taking into account the two games played (a loss and a tie) this past week.
I gotta stick with O'Brien instead of Cantor. The entertainment value is just too good.

8:10 a.m. O'Brien now points out that Bruce Arena teams are 2-16-2 when trailing at the half. We have no clue whether his information is even accurate at this point.

8:17 a.m.: U.S. bald goalie makes a nice save, to prevent it becoming a 3-1 deficit. So how's that four-goal victory working for the Americans?

8:18 a.m.: O'Brien, and a graphic, provide this info: The Americans have never won the third game in Group play first round: 0-5-0. Again, who do you trust?

8:22 a.m.: O'Brien: "Landon Don ... I should say, Ben Olsen, taken down. That was Pimpong with the foul."

8:23 a.m.: Eddie Johnson is subbed in.

8:24 a.m.: O'Brien: "If you're just joining us ..." We tuned out whatever came after that.

8:36 a.m.: U.S. makes its last sub, bringing in Bobby Convey. He must be Bruce Arena's non-victory cigar sub.

8:39 a.m.: O'Brien and Balboa are still harping on that penalty call. O'Brien mentions that the ref, Markus Merk (above, explaining his call to incredulous U.S. players), is a dentist by trade, from Germany. Thanks for that update.

8:43 a.m.: Update: Italy leads 2-0 now against the Czechs. Now the U.S. just needs to score a dozen goals to advance, right?

8:44 a.m.: Did you know: Judgment at Nuremberg was a Stanley Kramer flick made in 1961, starring Spencer Tracy and Burt Lancaster. Amazon.com has copies available starting at $4.96.

8:48 a.m.: O'Brien: "Alot of the USA fans beginning to sense their fate on this day... Inside five minutes ... Four years of dreaming, of sweating and working so hard ... the United States on the verge of elimination."

8:49 a.m.: My next door neighbor is starting construction on his house again. Little early in the day to start the jackhammer, eh? I gotta turn up the volume. Why in the world did they buy that house for $1.6 million, then start tearing it apart and redoing everything? New front door. Repainting the outside. New windows. Who knows what they're doing now...

8:50 a.m.: Final: Italy 2, Czechs 0.

8:52 a.m.: O'Brien: "Donovan ... feeds it to Olsen ... takes a swing and a miss!" Good to know he hasn't lost his fastball on a good baseball cliche.

8:53 a.m.: We're in extra time. Can't the U.S. team put Mia Hamm into the game now? Or the chick pulling off her top to distract the Ghana team?

8:57 a.m.: O'Brien: "The draw against Italy was inspiring and couragous, but this one is over and the U.S. World Cup dreams are finished." And here's a picture of your American losing team to put up on the wall for the next four years:

9 a.m.: Eric Wynalda, after saying the players' efforts were good: "I'm more concerned about the managerial position of the United States National team ... I'm going to be the first one to say it, Bruce Arena screwed up this World Cup for the U.S."
Reece Davis, kind of taken aback: "I know we're in the immediate aftermath of a heartbreaking loss, but if you're putting the World Cup on him, then what does it mean for his future?"
Wynalda: "I'm talking about the first two games, the confidence was not there, they never got into any one of these games ...
"This team, as much as it was being touted as the best American team, was poorly managed, and the problem I have with this the strength of Bruce Arena has always been to put people in positions where they'll be successful. On several occasions in this World Cup, that was not the case. The end result, gotta say too little, too late, Bruce did not make the right moves."
Julie Foudy then rambled on, sort of agreeing, and then put it on the players: "Where was Landon Donovan?"
Wynalda: "Playing in a 4-5 system, that's where he was."

Wynalda's final shot on Arena: "The horseshoe fell out of his back pocket."
So as Arena checks the time left in his coaching career, we'll sign off. Thank goodness we're up early enough now to catch "The View" from start to finish.