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Landon Donovan's stoppage-time goal did more for the United States than stave off elimination from the World Cup and ignite celebrations across the nation. It also put the Americans on a potential path to the semi-finals free of a confrontation with soccer's traditional powers.
Their cardiac 1-0 victory over Algeria on Wednesday gave the Americans first place in Group C, and because of that they are in an attractive spot in the tournament's bracket. They will face Ghana in the Round of 16 on Saturday, and should they win, they will go on to face the winner of the Uruguay-South Korea match in the quarterfinals.
While Ghana, Uruguay and South Korea are all difficult to beat - if anything, this World Cup has shown that any team, no matter how modest its reputation, can defeat any other- none of them are considered giants of the game.
Of course, neither is the United States. But the benefits it reaps for winning its group are appreciable.
Had the Americans finished second in Group C, their path would have looked more difficult. Their opponent in the Round of 16 would have been Germany. And had the Americans somehow survived that match-up, they would probably have had to face Argentina in the quarterfinals
Instead, that is the task now confronting England.
The Americans have not won two straight matches at a World Cup since 1930. But if they beat Ghana, and then win a third straight game over either Uruguay or South Korea, they will finally run up against a soccer superpower in the semifinals, most likely Brazil.
Should that happen, the Americans will be happy, anyway, since few would have suspected they would get that far in the first place. But before the Americans can think about quarterfinal and semifinal matches they have to beat Ghana - the team that eliminated them in the 2006 World Cup.
In that tournament, the Americans needed a victory over Ghana in the final-group match to advance, but they were beaten, 2-1.
The critical moment of the match came in stoppage time just before the end of the first half, with the score tied, 1-1.
The American defender Oguchi Onyewu headed the ball away from Razak Pimpong while taking care to keep his hands off the Ghana forward. But Pimpong dived, the German referee, Markus Merk, was fooled, and Stephen Appiah converted the subsequent penalty kick to give the Black Stars a lead they never relinquished.
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