Job Well Done. You know the old saying “Third time’s the charm”? Well… that was us last night. In their two previous meetings the United States national team couldn’t find a way past Ghana; eliminated from the 2006 and the 2010 World Cup by the Black Stars. When the World Cup draw took place back in December, this date, June 16^th, was circled on the calendar. Any team in the World Cup needs to open their group stage match strong, but this was even more crucial. We didn’t just need a win… we needed revenge… we needed redemption. Having safely arrived in Brazil our 500+ Outlaws joined hundreds of others for the pre-game party in Natal. The beers were flowing as were the chants of “USA! USA! USA!”. As game time approached, escorted by Brazilian police, we marched. We turned Brazil’s streets (typically filled with their national colors of yellow and green) red, white, and blue Perhaps you could hear us in the stadium? Perhaps you wondered if we believed that we would win? We didn’t have to wait long to start our World Cup quest for glory. Clint Dempsey made sure of that. Just 29 seconds in, the fifth fast goal in the tournament’s history, and we were rewarde. We waited four long years for that goal. We waited eight long years for that goal. The Black Stars, however, were not done. The pushed and punished us. Jozy went down (Get well soon! Like really soon) and Besler pulled up. On came John Anthony Brooks to anchor the fragile backline with Cameron and Co. The U.S. bent but didn’t break until Ghana found their much deserved equalizer. Deflation, but not defeat. We pressed on. We “believed” even stronger that we would win. BROOKS! Euphoria. In Brazil. In bars. In bedrooms? We did it. We finally did it. Our Ghanaian curse was broken. As the final whistle blew we emptied the stadium. Some may say that we didn’t “deserve” those three points, but after all the years and so many World Cup dreams broken by Ghana we’d say they were much deserved.