The US's Chances Of Getting Out Of The Group Just Got An Unexpected Boost From Ghana

In a shocking move, Ghana threw two of its best players of the team just hours before its final Group G game against Portugal.

It's a sad development for Ghana, whose once-promising World Cup has been derailed by off-field controversies, including a threatened player mutiny over unpaid bonuses.

But from an American perspective, Ghana's chaos is the U.S.'s gain.

The U.S. advances with a win, a draw, or a loss in which they keep the goal difference tiebreaker over Portugal and Ghana.

Since the odds of Portugal overcoming the U.S. in goal difference are slim, the nightmare scenario for the U.S. coming into the game is that Ghana wins and the U.S. loses to Germany by more than a goal. The U.S. would go home.

Here are all the U.S. advancement scenarios if the Americans lose. As you can see, a Ghana win would be devastating:

Ghana has had a tumultuous few days. If it affects them on the field, it'd be to the U.S.'s advantage as long as they don't get completely blown out by Portugal.